Here We Are
by LazyApples
Summary: What if Sasuke didn't kill Itachi because Sakura saved him? And when they come back to the village and see all of the changes? Well we're about to find out! Main:SasuSaku
1. Chapter 1

So here's my first fanfiction. i took off the bold that was on it before. I hope you enjoy it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto...Darn

XXX

Okay, so the situation wasn't very good. The Uchiha brothers were probably almost done with their fight and Hinata had just informed them that they were still a couple miles away from them. Not good - they had to get there before either of the Uchihas did something stupid.

Tsunade had sent team Kakashi plus Hinata to go and bring the Uchihas back to Konoha where they belonged. She expected the confused stares when she had said Uchiha_s_, as in plural. Naruto voiced the question that was on everyone's mind.

"I don't understand. Why aren't we just going after teme? Why do we have to bring Itachi back with us too?"

Tsunade went on to explain that she had Shizune look for some medical scrolls in her personal library. Shizune found an old mission scroll that explained Itachi's mission. It stated that he was ordered to assassinate his entire clan.

Sakura, as perceptive as a hawk, pointed out to everyone, "wait, that would mean that he was supposed to kill Sasuke, but he just couldn't do that."

Tsunade nodded at her pupil.

"So that means that he's not that bad of a person. He didn't kill his family because he was crazy," Sakura continued to point out. She could barely believe it. All this time everyone had perceived him as evil. Now her old feelings just felt so wrong to her. Itachi didn't deserve to be hated.

"Correct."

Naruto was still confused. "Why would the elders want to eliminate the entire Uchiha clan anyway?"

"The Uchiha clan was planning a coup detat. They were powerful. So the elders gave Itachi the mission of assassinating them." Her voice became a bit softer, "he had a choice: it was either his clan or the village."

There was a moment of silence as this registered in everyone's minds. Eventually, Sai broke that silence.

"So, he killed all of the people he loved the most, excluding Sasuke, to save the village. The very village he saved has looked at him as a traitor ever since the massacre?"

Everyone was silent once more with only Naruto mumbling something that no one could pick up.

"So, what is the official mission then?" Kakashi questioned, for once his make-out book nowhere in sight.

"Your mission is to bring both Sasuke and Itachi back. Explain everything to Sasuke so he doesn't kill Itachi before it's too late. You leave as soon as you can, there's no time to lose. Go!"

When they all left in a puff of smoke Tsunade let out a sigh.

"What is this world coming to?"

XXX

Back to the situation at hand. The group had split up and Sakura and Hinata were running through the forest towards Sasuke and Itachi. Hinata and Sakura were together for a reason; Hinata was very good at locating things, thanks to her very handy Keke Genkai. Sakura was the team's medic nin. Hinata would locate the brothers quicker than anyone, then Sakura would be able to get to them faster if they needed to be healed at all.

Sakura could sense both chakras depleting quickly. She picked up her pace and shouted back to Hinata.

"Hurry, we don't have much time!"

The two girls arrived at the battle in just enough time to see Itachi fall to the ground. Sasuke followed soon after him. Sakura quickly made her way to the two brothers. She assessed their conditions and went to work on the one who was in the most critical state: Itachi.

"Hinata, look over Sasuke. He's not in any danger of dying, but make sure nothing is going to change that."

"Y-Yes."

Sakura turned back to the body in front of her. Her medic instincts taking over as she placed her hands over Itachi's stomach. Her green chakra glowing as she healed the damage. He had internal bleeding, broken bones, torn muscles, you name it - he had it.

She continued to pump chakra into him. She was so concentrated on the task at hand that she didn't notice when the rest of her team emerged from the forest.

Naruto ran over to them. He stopped when he saw Sasuke on the ground. He was suddenly very nervous.

"Hinata, why aren't you healing Sasuke?" He feared that they weren't healing him because he was already dead. However, Hinata soon put his mind at ease.

"D-Don't worry. He is going to be f-fine. I already healed what injuries he h-had."

Relief washed over Naruto's face.

"Thanks, Hinata."

Hinata was now as bright as a tomato, "Y-You're welcome."

Naruto turned to Sakura. "Hey, Sakura. How's Itachi?" Naruto questioned, but he was answered with silence. Kakashi came up next to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"She has to concentrate, Naruto. Itachi looks to be in really bad shape."

"Oh."

The group then waited in silence as Sakura continued to heal the older Uchiha. Ten minutes later Sakura pulled her hands from his stomach and wiped the sweat that had appeared on her forehead.

"I healed all of his major injuries. What he needs now is rest." She explained as she shakily got up ( Her chakra was running low) and stood by her team. They all looked down at the brothers lying side by side.

"Their past is so wrong…so wrong." Sakura stated as she stared down at the younger of the two, Sasuke; her feelings for him flooding her mind. She cared for him very much and was happy that she was able to save Itachi. She didn't know how he would take the news that Itachi was ordered to kill his clan. Then if he had killed Itachi…whatever he would have felt he didn't deserve to feel it. He had been through so much in his lifetime. She didn't want to see him have to suffer anymore.

"What now?" Sai had directed his question at Kakashi, their team leader.

"We should take them to an inn and let them rest. When they wake up we will explain the situation to them." Kakashi went over to Itachi and started to pick him up.

"Naruto, you come and get Sasuke." Kakashi ordered. Naruto obliged and carried Sasuke. The group ran off in the direction of the nearest village. Hinata had confirmed that they would make it there before the sun had completely set.

XXX

When they arrived at the village Kakashi asked a shop owner where the nearest inn was located. The shop owner told him the directions. Kakashi thanked the man and started heading in the direction the owner had told him. They soon came across the inn. It was moderately sized and well kept. They went in, got a room, and headed towards the stairs. Their room was on the second floor.

Sakura unlocked the door and switched on the light. It was a pretty big room. There were two doors leading to what were probably bedrooms. There was a bathroom to their right. The room was open and the kitchen area connected to the living room space.

"We should keep them in separate rooms until we explain to them what's going on." Kakashi stated as he headed to one of the doors. Naruto followed suit and walked to the other bedroom door. Sakura, Sai, and Hinata sat at the table. Naruto came out of the room first and then Kakashi. They both went over to join them.

"So, how are we going to do this?" Sakura asked to anyone in general. Kakashi answered her.

"We split up and stay in the rooms with them until they wake up. Naruto, Sai, and Hinata will stay in the room with Sasuke. Sakura and I will stay with Itachi. Sakura, you may need to heal him at some point so it's easier with you in the room." Kakashi stated after he saw the slight frown on the kunoichi's face. "One person will be stationed at the window and one at the door, in case they try to escape. However, I don't think either of them have enough strength left in them to try anything. When they wake up we will let them ask their questions and we will answer them. Everybody got that?"

A chorus of yes' came. Everyone got up and went to their designated rooms. Kakashi stayed back before he headed in with Sakura.

"Well, this will be interesting."


	2. Chapter 2

**Okay, so I'm not quite used to how to put stories up here yet. That's why the first chapter was bolded. Sorry about that. Well anyway here's the second chapter in Here We Are! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto and I never will…Darn.**

Sakura could feel her eyes drooping as she sat against the door. She was low on chakra and they've been watching Itachi sleep for hours now. If she had to guess it was probably around midnight. She jerked her head as she tried to keep herself awake. Kakashi had been keeping busy by reading his favorite book.

"Sakura, you can go to sleep. You need to get your strength back."

Kakashi's voice startled her. She looked at him and nodded. She had no trouble in letting her sleepiness take over.

She didn't know how long she had been sleeping for. She woke up to Kakashi calling out her name. she quickly opened her eyes and looked around. It was still dark outside, so she wondered why she was woken up. She looked around the room until her eyes landed on the bed. The occupant was sitting up. Sakura's memories of the day before flooded back to her. She quickly stood up and became ready to take action if need be.

"Why am I here?" There was a twinge of confusion in his voice. Kakashi answered him still staying by the window.

"We brought you here." Thank you captain obvious.

Itachi stayed quiet and looked at Kakashi as if he was stupid.

"Why am I alive?"

"I healed you." Sakura answered matter of fact, as she made her way over to the bed. Itachi watched her cautiously, not sure of what she was going to do.

"Relax, I'm going to check out your wounds." Her hands reached out to him slowly, so he wouldn't be jumpy. His eyes still showed that he was wary of her. The green chakra glowed over her hands as she checked over his injuries. Everything was looking pretty good. In fact, she was surprised that everything looked as well as it did.

_Must be their stubborn Uchiha blood that's healing him so fast, _Sakura thought.

She brought her hands back to her sides and backed up, returning to her spot at the door. The room was filled with silence. Kakashi and Sakura waited for Itachi to ask more questions, but nobody spoke for a while. When someone did speak it was Kakashi.

"We know about the elders giving you the mission to kill your family."

Itachi flinched at his words. His eyes narrowed slightly and he glanced between both Kakashi and Sakura, not really sure what he should do. Sakura decided to add to the conversation.

"Sasuke will be informed on the situation as well. Both you and Sasuke will come back to Konohagakure. You will testify your piece against the elders and they will be punished for what they did." She watched him as he watched her. His eyes searched her face to see if what she was saying was the truth or not. His voice grew quieter as he asked his next question.

"Where is Sasuke now?" His eyes still glued to her face, anticipating her answer. She bit her lip, unsure of if she should tell him that he was in the next room. She glanced over at Kakashi, silently asking with her eyes of what they should tell him.

"Somewhere nearby." Kakashi decided to be vague, but still tell him the truth. Sakura nodded, confirming that what he had said was the truth.

xxx

Naruto stood by the window, while Hinata and Sai stood guard and the door. They all waited for Sasuke to wake up. After a while Naruto got bored and started naming all of the flavors of Ramen. When Hinata giggled at what he was saying it only egged him on to continue with senseless babbling. Sai stood there not sure of how he was going to be able to enter this conversation, as it was something that he did not know a lot about. Ramen was never mentioned in any of the books that he had read. Maybe he should check some Ramen books out as soon as they returned home.

"Ugh."

Chatter stopped as all eyes turned to the lump on the bed. Naruto was instantly at the side of the bed when Sasuke started moving. He knew that he was supposed to stay at the window, but he couldn't stand so far away from his teammate.

Sasuke's eyes opened and scanned the room. He was confused as to why he was in some room with the Konoha Shinobi around him. However that thought was soon forgotten as he remembered that he had finally completed his goal of killing his brother. He was slightly annoyed with himself. Shouldn't he be feeling happy, or a sense of accomplishment? The only thing he felt was…nothing. He felt empty. He also had the feeling of regret with killing his older brother, like he shouldn't have killed him in the first place. He quickly shoved that thought to the back of his mind.

He had finally gotten his revenge. The man that had taken his family away from him was gone and he would never bother him again. Still, Sasuke felt empty and just…wrong.

"Sasuke."

Naruto watched as Sasuke's head swiveled in his direction. Their eyes locked and they stayed that way until Sasuke turned his head so he was staring directly in front of him.

"Where am I?"

"You're at an inn." Sai spoke up from the other side of the room. Sasuke stayed facing forward.

"What's going on?" His eyes looked over at Naruto so that he would know that the question was directed at him. He really had no desire to speak with his stand in.

Naruto didn't answer his question, so he turned his body, looked over at Naruto and voiced his question again. "What's going on?"

Naruto turned his head so he wouldn't be looking into the eyes of the person who he considered to be his brother. He knew that Sasuke didn't deserve to live all of his life hating everything, but it was so difficult to be the one to tell him that his life was all a lie.

"Sakura-chan and Kakashi-sensei are in the next room. They're with…your brother, Itachi." He could see out of the corner of his eyes that Sasuke had instantly tensed at what he said.

"What!?" Anger and confusion could be heard through Sasuke's voice. Why was Itachi here? Hadn't he killed him?

Naruto finally got the strength to be able to look Sasuke in the eye.

"Sasuke, Itachi was ordered to kill the Uchiha clan. It was a mission that he had to complete, requested by the elders." Sasuke's eyes turned to slits with each word Naruto said. "Tsunade baa-chan found the scroll that stated his mission. He protected you and Konoha. He was never the evil man that you thought he was. All he wanted was peace. If he hadn't fulfilled his mission there would have been a war within Konoha and hundreds of innocent people would have been killed." Naruto continued to stare at his best friend as his world came crashing down around him.

Sasuke turned his glare at the wall in front of him. Why had this happened to him? All of his life people had been lying to him. The elders were the ones responsible for what his life turned out to be. He clutched the bed sheets in his hands.

Naruto had to continue on with what happened. "Sakura-chan healed Itachi so that he was no longer in danger of dying. He probably won't be able to wake up for a while, he was in pretty bad shape. But then again you Uchihas sure are stubborn, so he might be up sooner."

Sasuke couldn't help but roll his eyes at Naruto's attempt at making a joke. Although he felt better knowing that his brother was not going to die anytime soon. He wanted to talk to him and get everything straightened out. He didn't want to think about how he would have felt if he had killed his older brother and then found out that he was ordered to kill the Uchiha clan. He had to know if the elders were really the ones who ordered Itachi to kill his family. If they were the ones, then they would have to be dealt with in some way.

As if Naruto was reading his thoughts he piped up, "Tsunade baa-chan will take care of the elders. They won't get away with this Sasuke, don't worry." Naruto put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder and felt him relax slightly.

"Oh, and you're coming home with us this time." Naruto smiled down at his best friend. He had been so wronged in his lifetime. He would make sure that Sasuke would get to have the life he deserved: Back at Konoha among his friends.

xxx

Itachi fell asleep after Sakura told him he needed his rest. Of course it was after some glares on both ends.

_Stupid Uchiha pride, _Sakura thought as she made her way to the kitchen in their room. She was thirsty, so she got a glass of water and filled it to the brim. She was in the middle of her second glass when Hinata came out of Sasuke's room. The shy girl made her way over to where Sakura was standing. Sakura nodded an acknowledgment.

"So…how is he." Sakura pointed to the door where the girl had just come out of.

"Sasuke-san has woken up." Sakura's eyes became more alert as she heard Hinata say this. "I-I came out here to ask you t-to look at his w-wounds. You are the experienced m-medic nin." Hinata stumbled out as she looked at the pink haired girl.

"…Sure, Hinata. I'll be there in a minute." Sakura smiled at the girl as she turned around and headed back into the room. That smile soon died down though as thoughts flew in and out of her head. She had no idea how she would act in front of Sasuke. She didn't want him to think that she was still the same weak needy girl anymore. She was strong and independent! She would prove it to him. All that she had to do now was open the door…but why couldn't she twist the knob!?

Sakura took a deep breath to calm herself, she set her face into a determined expression and opened the door. Maybe she used a little too much gusto as she banged the door right into Sai. Naruto burst into laughter at the opposite side of the room. Sai was looking confusedly at Sakura, and Hinata was giggling quietly. Sakura turned to Sai with a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry Sai, I didn't meant to do that." She was still trying to suppress her laughter as she turned her head to look at Sasuke, who was sitting up on the bed and smirking at the commotion. As soon as she saw him in front of here her mind went blank. The door slamming into Sai was instantly forgotten as she got lost in Sasuke's eyes.

Darn him and the effect he has on her.

Naruto's voice brought her out of her stupor, "Sakura-chan?"

Sakura broke eye contact with Sasuke and turned to look at Naruto, who was partially still laughing at Sai.

"What is it?" She could feel Sasuke's eyes on her as she addressed the blonde. Naruto smiled at her and she instantly understood. They finally got their teammate and friend back.

She smiled back at him and made her way over to Sasuke. She sat on the side of the bed and looked Sasuke in the eyes again. She brought her hands up to rest on his shoulders. The instant that she touched him her hands felt tingly. She almost pulled back she was so surprised at the feeling when their skin connected. Instead, she gently pushed him down into a laying position, then placed her hands on his stomach. His eyes were wary of her. She saw this and explained what she was going to be doing.

"Don't worry, I'm going to check to make sure that your injuries have started to heal." His eyes were still showing unease as her hands glowed green with her chakra. Sakura closed her eyes in concentration. A minute later she removed her hand ( A little slowly because, you know, Sasuke does have _very_ nice abs ). She avoided eye contact because she wasn't confident in her abilities to talk if she was trapped inside of those onyx eyes of his. Could you blame her?

"Everything is fine. You're healing well." She got up off the bed and made her way to the door. She opened it and before she left she turned and looked back at Sasuke.

"I'm glad you're back with us, Sasuke-kun." She hurried out the door. Why had she added that suffix? It brought up memories of their genin days. It would only make her still look weak and clingy. Which she was _not. _She convinced herself that she was just overreacting as she made her way back to Itachi's room. He was awake now and leaning against the headboard. He was talking to Kakashi when she entered. Her expression must have been weird because when she walked in, both men looked at her with questions on their faces. Kakashi was the one to voice his question out loud.

"It was that bad, huh?"

Itachi still looked confused. What went bad?

"Huh? Oh…no! Everything was good. It's just…" she searched for the right words, "complicated. Did you see him yet Kakashi-sensei?" She questioned him.

"No. Now that you're back I'll go speak with him." He headed out the door leaving Sakura alone in the room with Itachi, who wasn't confused anymore. He was able to infer that they had been talking about his younger brother.

Sasuke.

xxx

**Well, that was chapter 2 of Here We Are! I hoped you enjoyed it!**

**RXR!!!**


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, so here's chapter 3 of Here We Are.

Hey, it's snowing outside! Yay!!! ^_^

Disclaimer: I still don't own Naruto. If it went on eBay, I would bet on it in a heartbeat…but I don't see that happening at all.

XXX

Sakura turned her attention to the older Uchiha, who was sitting up in bed.

"What are you sitting up for? You need to rest, so we can go back to the village as soon as possible." She went over to him after he just stared at her, not lying back down. She tried to push him back, but he was able to resist her. She glared at him which he just threw her one of his own. What he didn't expect was when she smiled and pushed him down on the bed. She had taken advantage of his weakened state and pushed him back with her super strength.

"That's a lot of strength for such a small girl." Itachi mused, his eyes showing a hint of amusement in them.

"Well, you can go train with Lady Tsunade and see how strong you get." Sakura went over to an armchair in the corner of the room and plopped down. She blew a stray piece of hair out of her face and looked back at Itachi, who was once again sitting up. She let out a frustrated sigh.

"You can keep sitting like that all you want. You don't have to heal all the way if you don't want to." Sarcasm dripped from every word.

"Whatever…so you talked to Sasuke." It wasn't a question, he was confident that he guessed right with what her and Kakashi were talking about before.

"…Yeah." Her eyes fell to the floor, unable to look Itachi in the eyes. However, Itachi remained staring at the pink kunoichi. He needed her to give him the answer to his question.

"Does he know?" He knew that he didn't need to specify. Sakura was smart enough to understand that he meant about his mission. She nodded, still looking anywhere but at his face. The silence stretched on for a few minutes until Sakura Decided to break the silence.

"Can I ask you a question?"

"You just did."

"…smart ass."

Itachi rolled his eyes at her response. What a strange girl.

"What?"

Sakura bit her lip before she asked him her question.

"Do you want to come back to the village? Would you come back if we don't force you to?"

Itachi had to think about that. He obviously loved the village if he betrayed his family to protect everyone else in it. He knew that he didn't have to answer the girl, but he did anyway.

"I don't know what I would have done if something different happened." He watched as she looked up at him for the first time in a few minutes. Her eyes were soft.

"You didn't answer if you wanted to come back to the village." She watched him as he thought about his answer. This time it was his turn to avoid her gaze.

"…Yes, I want to go back."

Sakura was able to detect the hint of sadness in his answer. She suddenly got up and went over to the bed and sat on the edge. Itachi turned his head when he felt the bed shift. Sakura looked down at him with sad eyes. She was able to see the sadness in his eyes also. To anyone else his expression probably looked like an emotionless mask, but she could see his pain. She was always good at reading Sasuke's emotions. Itachi and Sasuke are similar, so she was able to tell what he was feeling.

"I'm sorry…" She continued to watch him. Confusion was apparent on his features.

"For what?"

"Everything." Vague much?

"Care to explain? Or is that too much for you to do?" He smirked at her when she wore an annoyed expression on her face.

"Jerk." She gave him one glare before continuing. "You were treated as a traitor all these years, when you really didn't betray your village at all. I don't know how it would feel to have the village you love so much, hate you in return. It must feel awful." She looked at her hands, "So…I'm sorry."

Itachi didn't know what to say. Never in his life had he thought that someone would be apologizing to him.

"…Thank you." He finally whispered out. He wasn't expecting the girl before him to flinch at his words.

Itachi gazed at the girl in front of him, confusion in his eyes. All he said was a thank you. Why was she so affected?

Sakura saw him staring at her with a question in his eyes. The only answer she gave him was a small sad smile. It was painful to hear those words spoken by an almost identical voice. She hadn't expected herself to react that way. But as she smiled at Itachi, memories of that night came at her in a rush. She was relieved as Kakashi came back into the room only moments later.

"Yo" He gave her a small wave, "I'm back."

Sakura lifted herself off of the bed and moved over to the armchair that she was sitting in earlier.

The rest of the night went by without a hitch. Nobody left their rooms again.

Sakura pleasantly dreamed about when team 7 just started out as a squad. God, she had missed everyone being together again.

She was grumpy when she was shaken awake. She glared up, accusingly, at Naruto.

Wait…why was Naruto her?

She blinked back her sleepiness and looked around the room. Nothing changed - Everything was in the same spot it had been the night before. So again, why was Naruto here? When she voiced her question, Naruto stared at her with serious eyes.

"Sasuke wants to talk with Itachi."

Sakura looked over towards Itachi. He was awake and watching them very intently.

She sighed. "I guess there's no problem with that. They're both healthy enough to move." Sakura made her way over to Itachi, who had obviously heard what was going on because he had pushed the bad covers off of him. She started to help him off the bed. He shrugged out of her reach.

"I am able to get out of bed by myself."

She backed away and watched him get out of bed. He only stumbled once, but it was still amazing that he had recovered this quickly.

Naruto walked out first followed by Sakura and Itachi, then finally Kakashi. They made their way to the kitchen area. Sasuke was seated at the table. Sai and Hinata were standing y the counters. Itachi took the seat directly in front of his brother. They stared at each other for what seemed like forever. The group standing around them grew more and more anxious as the time went by. All of them had one thing on their minds: Who will speak first?

Another minute later (Sakura swore it had to be ten minutes later) Sasuke narrowed his eyes and spoke.

"Is it true?"

"…Is what true, Sasuke?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Itachi." Sasuke narrowed his eyes more. "Did the elders assign you the…mission?" His voice grew quieter as he said 'mission'.

Itachi stayed silent. Sasuke searched his brother's eyes, but found nothing. He was the epitome of emotionless. Itachi closed his eyes when he finally decided to speak.

"What do you think, Sasuke?"

All eyes went to Sasuke as they awaited his answer. Once again he searched his brother's eyes in search of the right answer. He slowly opened his mouth to speak.

"…They sent you on a mission…to kill our entire clan…" His voice sounded like it was getting ready to break, and his eyes showed so much sadness. Sakura's heart broke as she watched the man in front of her. She never wanted him to experience this much sadness in his life ever again. She promised herself that she would do whatever it took to protect him.

Itachi nodded, confirming that what Sasuke had said was the truth.

Nobody knew what they were supposed to do. They waited in silence as Sasuke swallowed the truth about his families past. Itachi watched him the whole time. He was waiting for him to have some sort of break down. But what he waited for never came. Sasuke turned towards Kakashi.

"When are we leaving?"

Kakashi was shocked with what had come out of the boy's mouth.

"Soon. Probably tomorrow. We'll pack tonight and leave in the morning."

Sasuke nodded and got up out of his chair. He headed to his room without a second glance and closed the door. As soon as he was out of eyeshot everyone turned and looked at Itachi. Sakura was surprised to see a sad smile on his face. Itachi caught her looking at him.

"He's going home."

Sakura smiled at him. The entire time he was away from the village, the only thing he cared about was his brother's wellbeing. He really loved his brother.

XXX

Eventually everyone else returned to their room. Everyone of thinking about what had happened with the Uchiha brothers. No one knew what to make of it, so the rest of the night was silent.

By the time Sakura got up she was ready to return to the village. She was starting to get a little homesick. She was also ready for Sasuke to be back in the village with them.

She picked up her pack and made her way to the door. Kakashi and Itachi were already out in the kitchen area, along with Hinata. She stood next to the shy girl and told her good morning.

"G-Good morning." She stumbled out.

Just then Sai came out of his room and walked over to them. When no one followed him Kakashi spoke up.

"Sai, where are Naruto and Sasuke?"

Sai looked back at the door and then back at Kakashi, "They're having some argument."

"Apparently when we get back to the village, Naruto is going to take Sasuke to get Ramen. Sasuke declined his offer."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Seriously Ramen was the only thing that Naruto has on his mind all the time. Sakura was getting impatient when she was able to still hear them fighting about getting Ramen. So she stormed to the room and opened the door.

"Naruto, stop talking about Ramen! We're leaving now and the both of you are holding us up."

Both boys stared at her. Sasuke hmphed and walked towards her. She turned around and led the way to the others.

"Okay, we head out for Konoha now!" Kakashi told the group as they made their way out the room door. Kakashi dropped off their room key and led the group out into the fresh morning air. Kakashi led the way. The rest took off after him. Konoha was at east a day away if they traveled non stop. However, the Uchihas were still healing, so they would need to stop and rest eventually.

They traveled for a few hours before Naruto started complaining about how he had to go to the bathroom. Sakura rolled her eyes because he still sounded just like a child whining. Kakashi stopped, and upon seeing this everyone else stopped also.

"Naruto go ahead. We'll stop and take a break for a little while."

Sakura sat down with her back against a tree. She thought about what it would be like with Sasuke back on the team. She glanced over at him. He was ten feet away from her, leaning against a tree. His eyes were closed and he had a peaceful expression on his face. Although Sakura was sure that he was anything but at peace. As if sensing that he was being stared at he opened his eyes and met her bright green eyes. They were locked in a staring contest, neither one looking away. Sakura was once again lost in his bottomless eyes.

Somehow she could tell that the trip home would seem like a long one.

XXX

Well, there's chapter 3! Hope you enjoyed it! R&R!


	4. Chapter 4

Happy late holidays!! I hope you all had a fun time! Well, here's chapter 4!

XXX

The group watched as Konoha's gates rose up in front of them. They sped up, happy to be home at last. The two Uchihas didn't pick up their pace as much and moved to the back of the pack. Once everyone made it to the entrance they stopped. The guards looked up to see who it was that would enter the village. Upon seeing that it was Kakashi and his group they nodded at them and went back to what they were doing.

Kakashi began walking down the streets. It was very late, so the streets weren't crowded much to the relief of two individuals.

The group made their way down the streets until they came to a stop in front of a building. The stop didn't last long because they were all now heading through the double doors. They headed up a set of stairs and walked down a hallway. Kakashi stopped at a door and knocked. Sasuke thought that he must've heard a 'come in'. Well, it was either that or he just barged right in.

Everyone entered the room. After Sasuke looked around he remembered it being the Hokage's office.

Tsunade's head was on top of papers, strewn all over her desk. Sakura let out a sigh and marched over to her sleeping shishou. She took the bottle out of her teacher's hands and placed it farther away from her on the desk. She put her hands on Tsunade's shoulders and shook them.

"Shishou! Wake up!"

Tsunade slowly opened her eyes and looked for the thing that had woken her up. She wasn't surprised to see that it was Sakura. Not too many people are willing to shake her to wake her up. She let out a groan and turned to the others standing in front of her desk. Her eyes scanned the group until they landed on the Uchiha brothers.

"So, the mission was a success."

She let a smile slowly spread across her lips. "Good. Kakashi, I want a full report on my desk tomorrow."

"Yes."

"Now for sleeping arrangements." Tsunade said as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. She then looked to her left at her pick-haired apprentice.

"Itachi and Sasuke will both stay with Sakura." Sakura tried to hide the mortified expression on her face, but Tsunade was able to see it. "Sakura, they still might need medical attention. It will only be for tonight and I'll give them pills that will put restrictions on their chakra for 24 hours." She looked back at the group "It's late and I'm sure you are all tired. Go home." Tsunade dismissed them with a wave of her hand.

Everyone left aside from Itachi, Sasuke and Sakura. Sakura held out her hand as Tsunade opened a drawer and took out a bottle of pills. She gave two to Sakura. Sakura walked around the desk and gave Sasuke and Itachi each one. Itachi took his right away, whereas Sasuke looked at his for a few seconds before putting it in his mouth.

Sakura turned and waved a goodbye to her master and then they all left without another word. Once they were outside Sakura breathed a breath of fresh air. She turned towards the two brothers.

"Um…my apartment is this way." She pointed down a street. They walked in silence, all thinking about different things.

Sakura was thinking about how awkward it would be to have them both sleeping in her apartment. It was only a one bedroom, one bathroom apartment. So someone would get the couch and someone else would get the bed.

'_Itachi should probably get the bed because he was more injured than Sasuke. So that means Sasuke gets the couch…and I get the floor.' _Sakura's face suddenly became gloomy at the thought of sleeping on the floor. _'Well, just suck it up! It is only for one night after all.'_

Sasuke was lost in thought about how he would be sleeping in Sakura's apartment. So, if she lived in an apartment does that mean that she doesn't live with her parents anymore? Also, what was that in the Hokage's office? The 5th Hokage was Sakura's teacher? When did that happen? So she shouldn't be the same girl that she was when they were all 12 years old. He wondered how much she had actually improved.

Itachi was also on Sasuke's mind. He understood that his brother had saved the village by accepting the mission from the elders. However, Itachi was still the one who had killed his clan. His mother and Father. Everyone. It was a weird balance: having feelings of acceptance, but also having a portion of himself that was still pushing Itachi away.

Itachi was thinking about being back in the village. He didn't know how the elders were going to take him being back in the village. What would they do? Would they even dare try to kill him? He had no idea, so he had to remain with his guard up. Thoughts of Sasuke were also floating around in his head. What would Sasuke do when he saw the elders, now that he knew the truth? He hoped that he wouldn't try anything stupid. He was finally back with his old team.

XXX

They finally made it to Sakura's apartment. She took out her key and unlocked the door. The room was dark until Sakura found the light switch. When the lights came on they revealed a small living room. A hallway -going to the back of the apartment- led to Sakura's bedroom. The kitchen was connected through an open doorway to the right.

Sakura took her shoes off and waited for the two behind her to do the same. When they did she led them through the hall to her room.

"Sorry it's so small, but I wasn't really expecting anyone to share it with me." She let out a nervous laugh. "So, I was thinking that Itachi would get the bed. He was more injured." She pointed at Itachi "I'll check out your injuries before I leave the room."

She opened her door and revealed a dark green room. It was medium sized with one window overlooking the village streets. The bed was queen sized with light green sheets. One wall was covered with book shelves, filled with what looked like medical encyclopedias. There was a desk next to the bed with an open book on top. The room was very neat.

Sasuke looked around the room. He smirked at the pink haired girl.

"Green?"

Sakura's cheeks turned a light shade of pink at his comment.

"What's wrong with green?"

"Nothing." His smirk got bigger.

'_Darn that smirk of his' _Sakura thought as she turned back to Itachi to distract herself.

"Okay so, just go over to the bed and I'll check out your injuries."

Itachi complied and Sakura followed him. Her chakra glowed green as she searched for anything that seemed out of place. Nothing, he was back to perfect health.

"Everything looks good. So, goodnight." She got off the bed and saw that Sasuke was already making his was down the hall. She closed the door and followed him. As she caught up to him standing in the living room she told him where he would sleep.

"Sasuke, you get to sleep on the couch." She made her way to the closet where she kept all of her extra blankets and pillows. She threw a pillow at Sasuke, which he easily caught.

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"Um…well, the floor." She finished gathering the blankets and threw some on the couch. She started to make her bed on the floor, but Sasuke's voice stopped her.

"Take the couch."

Sakura was shocked. Was he being…nice?

"Excuse me?"

"Sakura." He gave her a stern look that seemed to say I-know-you-heard-what-I-said.

She still had an unbelievable expression on her face as she made her way to the couch. She made up her bed and turned around to face Sasuke. He had already made his bed and was laying down, his hands behind his head, looking at the ceiling. Sakura knelt down next to him, his eyes slid over her.

"I have to check your injuries too."

He nodded and waited for her to place her hands on his stomach. Again, there was this weird sensation when they touched. Sasuke found it quite pleasant. He kept his eyes locked on the ceiling as he felt her chakra search.

Sakura was prepared for the feeling she would get as she touched his stomach. It felt pretty much the same, except this time it was a fraction stronger. She wondered if Sasuke also had this feeling. Probably not.

"Okay, you're all good. Nothing's wrong."

She got up, turned off the lights and went back to the couch. She laid facing him. Just looking at him made her happy. She never wanted him to leave her again.

"Goodnight, Sasuke." She whispered out into the room.

"…Hn."

Sakura smiled. It was better than nothing.

XXX

"_You're annoying."_

_Sakura watched as her love turned around and was walking away from her. She didn't want to lose him. That was the thought that scared her the most._

"_Don't leave me!" tears continued to flow down her face. "If you go, I'll scream and-"_

_The boy before her disappeared and was behind her in an instant._

"_Sakura…thank you."_

_Her eyes widened as she heard his words. Then everything began to go black._

"_Sasuke…kun."_

XXX

Sakura sat up from the couch. She was panting because of her dream. She brushed a hand through her hair as she remembered that night all over again. She had relived that night in her dreams many times. She always hated that she was so weak back then. Maybe if she had been stronger, she could have been able to stop him. She took in a deep breath to calm her erratic breathing. She turned her head and looked at Sasuke…who was looking right back at her.

Sakura was so startled that she jumped. She wasn't expecting him to be awake. Was she really that loud?

"Oh…um, I'm sorry Sasuke. I didn't mean to wake you."

"Aa."

Sakura turned so her back was facing him. She felt his eyes on her form as she lay there.

'_I can't go to sleep when I know he's staring at me.'_

Sakura sighed and pushed the blankets off of her. She made her way to the kitchen and got out a mug. She opened one of her cabinets and searched for a packet of hot chocolate. She had to feel around for a bit because she left the lights off. She didn't want to deal with having to adjust to the bright light. Finding what she wanted she brought it over to her mug and poured it in. She added hot water and stuck it in the microwave. After she set the timer she made her way over to the table.

She wasn't awake enough to notice that Sasuke was already sitting in one of the chairs.

"What are you doing?"

Sakura thought her heart literally flew out of her chest. She made a startled noise and turned towards the source of the voice.

"Sasuke! You gave me a heart attack!" She put her hand to her heart to stress her point. She knew he would see her gesture, he had good vision.

"What are you doing?" He didn't drop his question.

"I'm making hot chocolate…what are you doing?"

"What?"

"Why did you follow me?"

"…curious."

She let out a small laugh, "curiosity killed the cat."

"…I'm not a cat."

Sakura laughed more because he said his last sentence with such seriousness.

"I can see that…do you want a cup?" The timer on the microwave went off. She got up and went to get her mug. She got out a spoon and stirred the liquid as she made her way back to the table.

"No."

She sipped her cocoa. The contents were still too hot. She scrunched her face as her tongue was slightly burned. Sasuke smirked at her actions.

"So, you're hot chocolate was hot?"

"…jerk."

"I'm just saying."

"Well, wipe that smirk off your face."

"What makes you think I'm smirking?"

Sakura blew on her drink before she answered, "I can hear it in your voice."

"Aa."

They sat in silence for a while. Sakura eventually finished her hot chocolate. She put it in the dish washer and walked back to the table.

"Well, we should go back to bed."

She made her way through the door and heard Sasuke's footsteps behind her. She smiled and laid back down on the couch. Sasuke also laid down. Sakura watched his chest go up and down as he breathed. She smiled down at him.

He was home and he wasn't going anywhere.

XXX

Okay, so there's chapter 4, hope you liked it! Please review! It makes me very happy whenever I see notifications on my email! Thank you!!! : )

~LazyApples


	5. Chapter 5

**Okay, so here's Chapter 5 of Here We Are! Sorry for the wait, but I hope it'll be worth it once you read this!**

**As always, please R&R! They motivate me to write more…well I just like writing in general. Reviews just tend to make me smile to myself. Haha. : )**

**Disclaimer: Naruto…I don't own it…yet.**

XXX

When Sakura woke up again it was because of the bright lights streaming through the window.

"Ugh. I really need to get curtains." She sat up and rubbed the sleep out of her eyes.

There was a knock at the door. Sakura looked at the clock, which said 8:02. Sakura was shocked; Lady Tsunade had let them sleep in. So, she got up and went to answer the door. She saw Sasuke sitting in her armchair looking out the window. He looked so peaceful…

"Ow…" Sakura rubbed the side of her face that had just smacked right into the wall. She quickly put her hand down as she saw Sasuke turn his head in her direction. She saw the mocking smirk plastered on his face. She turned around, hiding the slight blush forming on her cheeks, and stood at the door.

_God, I am such an idiot!_ Sakura thought as she leaned in to look through the peephole.

Sai was standing there. She widely opened the door and let him in.

"What is it, Sai?"

"We are expected at the Hokage Tower in ten minutes."

"Ten minutes! Why didn't you come and get us sooner!?"

He shrugged in answer to her question.

"Great, now I have to take a minute shower…" She grumbled out. "Sai, go and tell Itachi."

She quickly got undressed hopped in the shower and washed herself. Then she hopped back out and discovered a bit of a problem. She didn't bring in a change of clean clothes. She sighed, put her towel on and opened the door a crack.

"Sai!"

He walked over to the bathroom door and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Is Itachi out of my room?"

"…Yes."

"Okay…you can leave now." She told him when he didn't leave. When he did leave she quickly opened the door and hurried down the hall to her room. She opened the door, and found the room to be just as she had seen it the night before. The bed was made up and nothing seemed out of place.

She went to her closet and put on her regular outfit. She toweled her hair dry as she left her room. Everyone was in the living room. They weren't speaking. Sakura found it funny how much they were all alike in that department.

Looking at the clock - 8:05 - she said, "looks like we'll be running."

XXX

"She's late." Tsunade sighed.

"Yeah, well so is Kakashi-sensei."

"That doesn't count, he's always late."

"Who'd have thought that I would be the responsible one on our team."

"…Yeah, who'd have thought that." Sarcasm dripping from her sentence.

The door burst open to reveal Sakura, Sasuke, Itachi, and Sai. Their breathing was a little heavy.

"You're late." Tsunade scolded.

"We…We sprinted all the way here!"

"That still doesn't mean you're not late. Expect some hard training."

Sakura groaned and walked over to the desk. The rest followed suit. Sakura looked around and saw that Kakashi wasn't there yet.

"What about Kakashi-sensei?"

"He's always late."

_How is that fair?_

"Anyway, I'll start the meeting without him." She pointed at Sasuke and Itachi, "Starting with the details of you two."

Sakura drew her eyes to Sasuke's face. He looked calm and collected. She wondered what he was thinking at that moment.

"The two of you will remain with chakra restrictions until I say otherwise. You will also return to the Uchiha compound and live there."

Sakura's eyes hadn't strayed from Sasuke's face so she was able to see the emotion flickering in his eyes.

Sasuke listened to Tsunade speaking to him. As soon as she mentioned that they would be back at the place where he saw his family die, something rose up inside of him. Anger, regret, hurt. But the truth was that he was scared. He had witnessed the most terrible, horrifying moment of his life there. He had moved out as soon as he could. Then, as he grew up, he had avoided the compound area as much as possible. He had not had any desire to see that place again.

But, now it seemed he had no choice. He had to face his old home with his brother, the very person who had made it such a terrifying place to him in the first place.

"However, you will not go by yourselves." Tsunade's voice had broken Sasuke away from his thoughts. "I am assigning you, Sakura, to live with them, for the time being."

Sakura stood staring at her mentor.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think I heard right Tsunade-sama. What did you say?"

Tsunade sighed. "You heard me Sakura. You will be living at the Uchiha compound with Sasuke and Itachi."

"…What!? Why me!?"

"Sakura," Tsunade's voice was reprimanding, "you are really the only one who can do this."

Sakura's face was a mask of confusion.

"But, I still don't understand! Why me? Can't someone else do it? Like Kakashi or…or Naruto?"

"We both know the answer to that. Kakashi isn't very reliable, as you can see." She waved her hand around the room, pointing out the fact that the copy-ninja still hadn't made an appearance. "Naruto can hardly take care of himself. Sai would just make them both go insane."

Sakura slowly nodded, imagining different scenarios of each of her teammates living with the Uchihas. None of them ending well.

"You, " Tsunade pointed at her pink-haired apprentice, "are really the only responsible on your team

"Hey, wait a sec, " Naruto butted in to the conversation, "before, you said that I was the only responsible one on the team."

"Idiot. How are you responsible?" Sasuke spoke up for the first time since the meeting started. He really couldn't help himself, he hadn't insulted Naruto in so long. It made everything seem like it was back to normal for once. And he had to admit (Not out loud of course) he missed that.

"Naruto, learn to recognize sarcasm." Tsunade's remark made Sakura laugh, Sasuke smirk, and Naruto's cheeks turn pink.

"Now, back on topic. Sakura will stay with Sasuke and Itachi until I say otherwise. You will pack and then go there as soon as this meeting is over."

On the outside Sakura seemed confident as she nodded her head and said, "yes, Tsunade-sama." But on the inside she was a mess. How was she supposed to handle living with the two Uchihas? They weren't the best conversationalists in the world.

At that moment Kakashi decided to poof in.

"Sorry I'm late-"

"Kakashi! I want you to write the mission report and have it on my desk by the end of the day."

She gave him a glare that dared him to do anything else to upset her. Kakashi took the hint and nodded.

"Well, that is all. You are all dismissed." Everyone turned to go. "Oh, and Sakura?" Tsunade's voice sounded sweet. Sakura never trusted that voice. "Expect me to be dropping by tomorrow morning for some training."

Sakura inwardly groaned and walked out of the room. She hated it when training started early in the morning; it meant that the training wouldn't end until the day did.

XXX

The three rounded the corner and looked up at the Uchiha Clan symbol. They stopped and stared at the entrance for a few seconds before Sakura sucked in a breath and hitched the slipping strap of her bag higher on her shoulder.

"Okay…let's go."

She walked ahead of the other tow, not confident in her step until she heard them following her. She soon stopped, however, when she realized that she had no idea where she was going.

Turning back towards them she asked, "which way are we going?"

Sasuke walked next to her as he led the way.

When they made it to the main household Sasuke paused before opening the doors. Sakura had expected there to be a coating of dust in all of the rooms, but there was none. The interior looked to have been clean very recently.

"Leave it to Tsunade-sama to have everything already prepared for us," she said while she followed Sasuke down the halls.

"Aa."

They reached a door. Sasuke turned the knob and entered; Sakura followed close behind him.

"You can sleep here. It used to be a guest bedroom," Sasuke said to Sakura as he turned towards her.

She nodded, "thanks."

Sasuke walked out and shut the door behind him. Sakura's eyes lingered on the closed door before she started to unpack.

They had gone to her apartment, to pick her things up, before coming to the Uchiha Manor. She would probably be living here for a while, so she needed more clothes, her toothbrush, shampoo and conditioner, and some medical books. She hummed as she put everything away. At the bottom of her pack was the last thing that needed to be unpacked. She took it out and stared down at herself, Sasuke, Naruto, and Kakashi. She sat on the bed and continued to look at it.

_So much has changed _she thought as she looked at Sasuke. Her gaze then roamed over to Naruto. She sweat dropped, _and so much hasn't._

She was brought out of her memories by a knock on the door. She watched as Itachi entered her room.

"Yes?"

"We need food," he stated bluntly.

"There isn't any in the kitchen?" Sakura asked. How could Tsunade forget to give them food?

"Why would I tell you that we need food if I didn't already check the kitchen?"

"Alright, alright." She sighed. "Guess we're goanna have to go to the market."

Itachi raised his eyebrows at the girl.

Sakura saw him do this and said, "yes, _we_ are going to have to go to the Market. I can't just leave you and Sasuke here by yourselves. I wouldn't be doing my job."

He grunted in response and left her room. She placed the picture on the nightstand and then left the room. Itachi wasn't anywhere in the hallway.

_He sure moves fast, doesn't he?_

She walked down the hall and to the front door, where Itachi stood, waiting for her. She shook her head at him. "We can't leave without Sasuke. Why didn't you get him?"

He stared at her.

"Right. I understood that because I can secretly read minds." She shrugged, "forget it. Where's Sasuke's room?"

Itachi pointed down the hall she had just come from. "The third door on the right. The room right next to your's," he explained.

She walked down the hall. She hadn't known his room was right next to hers - they would be so close.

She knocked on his door and heard some movement on the other side. The door opened shortly after to reveal Sasuke.

"What?"

"We're going to the market. There's no food in the kitchen," she explained.

"Aa." He nodded his head, but remained in the same spot.

Sakura sighed. "That means you have to come with us."

He nodded his head once again. This time he came out and closed his door. She led the way down the hall and to where Itachi was waiting for them.

While she walked, Sakura thought about how Sasuke acted in his door. He had seemed so out of it when she told him about the market. _He must be reliving what had happened to his family._ She realized.

They both finally made it to the front door. Itachi opened the door as soon as he saw them.

"Impatient," Sakura mumbled out.

Sasuke heard her remark and a smirk slowly spread across his face.

XXX

The market wasn't crowded on a Tuesday. Sakura was glad for this. She wasn't sure how the villagers would act around the Uchiha brothers. As far as they knew, the two were traitors to the village. She knew Sasuke and Itachi would just ignore them, but she wasn't so sure how she would react.

The group went from stand to stand. Sakura picked the food out, and if either Sasuke or Itachi objected to the food she picked out, they didn't voice their objections.

They approached a vegetable stand. Sakura examined some cucumbers. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke looking at the tomatoes. She smiled and walked over to him.

"We can get tomatoes if you want."

Sasuke looked up at her and then back down at the tomatoes. He took five and placed them into her basket. He placed his hands into his pockets and turned his head away from her. She continued to smile as she walked over to the stand owner. Sasuke followed close behind her, continuing to look anywhere but the pink haired girl.

The owner was an older man whose hair was thinning out. He was short with a scrunched up face, like he had just eaten ten lemons at once.

Sakura smiled at the man who smiled back at her. However, his smile soon faded when Sasuke joined her side.

"You're an Uchiha." The man pointed at Sasuke.

Sasuke simply ignored the man.

"You shouldn't be here, traitor. What makes you think you can live here! Now leave my stand!" The man then turned back towards Sakura and began to ring up the total for her food.

Sasuke hadn't budged. Sakura was now fuming.

The man noticed that Sasuke hadn't left. "Hey, I told you to leave!"

"Hey!" Sakura was unable to control the anger bubbling up inside of her.

"Oh, I'm sorry miss. I didn't mean you," the man said in a nicer tone of voice.

"You asshole! What gives you the right to treat him that way? You don't even know him!" She placed the basket of food in front of him. "You can put the food back! We don't want any of it!" She turned to leave, "come on Sasuke. I'm sure there are other stands with better food than this stupid one."

The man stared at the retreating pair, not really sure what had happened.

"Ugh! That guy infuriated me!" Sakura fumed while walking ahead of Sasuke and Itachi, who had joined them after the whole scene at the stand.

Sasuke caught up to her and pulled on her arm to make her stop.

"Sakura, relax."

"How can you be so calm? What that man said to you-"

"Doesn't matter." He stared into her eyes. "There is always going to be people who are like that."

Sakura let out an exasperated breath. "I know. It just made me so angry!"

"I told you to relax," Sasuke pointed out.

"I am relaxed!"

"Could've fooled me," Sasuke mumbled.

Sakura didn't hear what he had said. She realized that Sasuke was right. She needed to relax and calm down. She closed her eyes, held in a breath and counted to ten. She reopened her eyes to see Sasuke staring at her.

"Okay, I'm better now."

Sasuke nodded and led her to another food stand. This time he would make sure to avoid the owner.

XXX

**Thank you for reading Chapter 5 of Here We Are! I hope you enjoyed it, so please review. Hmmm…maybe I'll update sooner if I get more reviews…who knows?**

**~LazyApples**


	6. Chapter 6

**Okay, so here's the next chapter of Here We Are! I'm so sorry that I didn't upload this sooner. I feel really bad about it!**

**Please RXR!!!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto…I **_**want**_** to own Naruto, but that's a different story.**

xxx

On her way home from the market, Sakura groaned. Both Uchihas looked at her with confused expressions. However, they were never answered.

Slightly annoyed that she wasn't explaining her little outburst, Itachi decided to speak up. "What was that for?"

Sakura looked wearily at him. "I just remembered something."

From the sound of her voice, Itachi thought that whatever she had remembered must be something awful. "What is it?"

"I have to train with Tsunade-sama tomorrow," she grumbled out.

He scoffed. "It's just training."

Sakura looked taken aback. "Have you ever heard anything about her training methods before?"

"No, but it can't be that bad."

"Oho! Trust me, it's that bad." Sakura looked over to see that Itachi had a skeptical look on his face. "Just you wait and see. Tomorrow, you'll see what I mean."

He smirked. "We'll see."

xxx

Sakura tossed and turned on her bed. She just couldn't get comfortable. every time she closed her eyes, thoughts of the clan massacre entered her mind. She was confused because she had never really thought about it in detail like this before.

_It must be the house, _Sakura tried to rationalize.

She tossed and turned a few more times before she sat up and sighed. _This is ridiculous! _She shoved the covers off of her and padded her way across the room. Slowly, she turned the door knob. The door opened with a creak that shattered the night's silence. She winced at the noise, but continued to open the door until she could squeeze through the opening. She shut the door behind her and walked down the hall.

When she opened the front door, a chill ran up her spine. The temperature had dropped, causing a trail of goose bumps to go up her arms. She sucked it up and went outside.

Sakura wandered the streets of the compound. She rubbed her arms to get some feeling back into them. While she was trying to get warmer, Sakura heard a soft thudding sound. Curious, she followed the noise off the street and into a patch of trees.

Sasuke was sitting down with his back against a tree trunk. He looked relaxed as he flipped a kunai in his hand. The motion looked second nature from Sakura's position.

Which was hiding behind a tree.

_Why did I have to be born with curiosity?_

Sasuke gracefully threw the knife at a target, hanging from the tree opposite him. When Sakura squinted, she was able to see that he had his eyes closed.

He looked so peaceful. His appearance made it seem that nothing bad had ever happened to him; That his entire family hadn't been ripped away right out from under him.

_I shouldn't be here. He probably wants some privacy. _Sakura backed away from her tree and stepped right onto a twig. It snapped, causing Sakura to freak out on the inside. _Of course I stepped on it! It's probably the only twig around that would have snapped, too!_

Sakura heard Sasuke sigh.

"You can come out now, Sakura. I know you've been here ever since you arrived."

Sakura stood completely still. Maybe he hadn't really known she was there. Maybe, this was all just a rouse to get her to come out. Well if that was the case, there was no way that she was falling for it. If it wasn't, then she would just end up looking like a complete idiot.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke's voice came from right behind her.

Sakura startled and lurched forward. She put a hand over her pounding heart and breathed heavily for a few seconds. All the while, staring up at a smirking Sasuke.

"Don't do that!" Right after the words left her mouth, Sakura regretted them. Sasuke would probably scare her more often now.

Sasuke stared down at the frazzled girl. He would laugh at her, but, Sasuke being Sasuke, he only smirked. "What are you doing here?" he repeated his question.

Sakura stared at him. The moonlight cut through the trees and pooled over Sasuke at different angles. Sakura thought that she had never seen anything more beautiful; He was absolutely breathtaking. And Sakura knew that she would never get used to Sasuke for the rest of her life.

The silence dragged on. Eventually, Sakura became aware of her surroundings. She blinked a few times. "What?"

Smirk.

_When he smirks like that, he just looks so - No! Stop thinking like that Sakura! _She shook her head, forcibly pushing _those_ thoughts out of her mind. She then tried standing her ground and being more forceful as she asked once more, "what?" Even though she tried, the question still came out as a little shaky.

"I don't like to repeat myself more than once," Sasuke said.

Sakura then racked her brain, trying to recall what he had asked her - twice, apparently. Finally finding it, she answered him. "I couldn't sleep."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "So, you came out into the forest, in the middle of the night," he looked down at her feet, "with no shoes on, because you couldn't sleep?"

Sakura crossed her arms over her chest. "Alright, Mr. Skeptical, what are you doing here?"

"Couldn't sleep," he answered while shrugging his shoulders and smirking.

"Hey! That's my excuse. You have to make your own."

"Mine's different."

"How so?"

"I have shoes on."

Sakura huffed. "It's not even that cold out." She could feel the goose bumps trailing her arms protest against her statement.

Sasuke stared down at the obviously cold girl. He could see her slightly shiver. "Come one," Sasuke said and grabbed her upper arm.

As soon as his hand made contact with her arm, both Sasuke and Sakura felt something. It was like their skin was emitting a thousand, small sparks of electricity. Sakura quietly gasped, but Sasuke turned his head and lead her out of the trees. Once they were on the road, he let go of her arm. Even though they weren't touching anymore, Sasuke's hand was still tingling. It was like he had never let go of her in the first place.

Sakura's arm tingled for the rest of the walk. It was such a strange experience for her. Never before had she felt that way - even when her and Sasuke were younger and touched, it had never felt like that. She never wanted the feeling to end, so she was reluctant to let Sasuke pull his had back. She was so tempted to place her hand on his arm to see if the same feeling would course throughout her body.

_Restraint, restraint._

Sasuke had stopped moving, making Sakura look up. They were already at the house. She followed Sasuke as he opened the door and walked inside. The warmth hit Sakura, immediately making her body nice and warm.

Sakura decided that heat was one of the best things in the world. _Especially body heat_. Sakura slapped a hand over her mouth, even though she hadn't spoken out loud. The hand over her mouth made her think that she was shutting up her thoughts. _What am I thinking? _She ran down the hall and squeaked out a "good night" as she passed Sasuke. She shut the door behind her and leaned against it.

_What's going on with me? Suddenly Sasuke's back and I get all hormonal. I need to keep my hormones in check when I'm around him. If I don't, there's no telling what I might get myself into._

Sasuke stared at the quick, retreating form of Sakura. _What was that?_

xxx

_Knock, Knock!_

"…"

_Knock, Knock, Knock!_

"Ugh…," Sakura groaned out. Half asleep, she got up and trudged over to the door and slowly opened it. She instantly woke up when she saw Tsunade standing there with her hands on her hips.

"Get ready."

Sakura let out a hurried "yes ma'am" before turning around and rushing over to the dresser. She threw on her training clothes and headed out the door. While in the hallway, she was able to hear Tsunade waking up Sasuke and Itachi.

"Get your lazy ass' up! We're leaving in five minutes!"

_Five minutes? That's two more than usual, _Sakura thought as she made her way to the Kitchen. She grabbed an apple and walked over to the front door. She ate as she waited for the others to get there.

xxx

"Get your lazy ass' up! We're leaving in five minutes!"

Sasuke jerked up in bed. He looked around, startled. _What's going on? _The clock next to him displayed 5:00 a.m.

"I don't hear movement!"

Sasuke watched as Tsunade burst into his room without warning. "What the hell!?"

"Get up, we're going training." Tsunade then left to go get Itachi.

Sasuke, still baffled, stared at the open doorway. He then remembered that Sakura had said that she would have a hard training session today. So, he got dressed and headed to the front door, where he met up with the pink haired medic.

They both waited in silence as Itachi and Tsunade joined them.

"Let's go." Tsunade motioned with her hand, signaling that the group follow her.

xxx

Sasuke looked out at the sight before him. The place brought back so many memories.

The Team 7 training grounds.

The past flooded his mind. He remembered when they first took the bell test. He had hated it when Kakashi had told him that he wouldn't even be able to become a ninja. He was so bent on revenge when he was younger. _God, I was so stupid._

"Alright, you two," Tsunade pointed towards the two Uchihas and then pointed at a nearby tree, "go over there."

Itachi looked at the tree questioningly. "Why?"

"Well, let's just say I don't think you have what it takes to do this type of training."

"…" Itachi was still skeptical about the training being that hard. But, he decided that it would be nice to relax for a while.

Sasuke followed his brother, but snuck a glance at Sakura before walking away. She had stood there with determination in her eyes. Sasuke swore that he could see some hint of sleepiness in them, though. The sight of her standing there facing a difficult task was…weird. When they were genin he was always protecting her. And now that she didn't need him anymore it made him feel…well, he didn't know. He couldn't describe it. All he knew was that something in the pit of his stomach said that he would miss watching over her.

Sakura stared at her mentor with a set of determined green eyes. _Whatever she throws at me, I can do it…I hope._

"Okay, Sakura. Follow me." Tsunade led her away from the Uchihas and over to a place with more trees. She turned around and faced her young student. "I want you to throw the trees as far as you can. For everyone that doesn't meet the last tree you threw, I want you to do ten laps around the training field."

_You've got to be kidding!? She's starting to sound like Lee and Guy!_

Sakura gulped, trying to get her throat unstuck. "For how long?"

Tsunade smirked. "You'll do this until noon. That'll give me plenty of time to figure out what you'll do next."

Sakura inwardly cringed. _Don't worry, Sakura. You can do this!_

"Oh, I almost forgot to mention. I'll be timing how long you run the ten laps. If you don't make it back here in 20 minutes you get an extra five laps."

_Okay, I'm not so sure about this anymore._

"Ready? Begin!"

Sasuke watched as Tsunade briefed Sakura on what her training would consist of. He was too far away to hear what Tsunade was saying, but he was able to see Sakura's shoulders stiffen. When Tsunade shouted, "begin!" Sasuke watched as Sakura made her way over to a tree and yanked it out of the ground…yanked it out of the ground!?

_Is that even possible? _

But it was. Sakura threw the tree and it went pretty far. Not too far though, it is still a tree after all. She then began to pick up another tree and hurl it in the same direction as the first one. It went a little farther this time. She kept this up until she threw short of her last throw. She let out a groan and started sprinting her laps. _I have to do this until noon! How am I going to be able to do this? _

Sasuke turned towards his brother. "Did you change your mind?"

Itachi stared at the running girl. He had never had to throw trees when he trained before. He was now thankful that he didn't have to.

"Aa."

xxx

**Oh, the words of the Uchihas. **

**Haha, anyway, I'm sorry that it took so long to get this chapter up! I won't wait as long too upload the next chapter, I promise! : )**

**~LazyApples**


	7. Chapter 7

**So here's the next chapter of HWA! I'm sorry I stopped writing this for a long time, but I hope to update it more and more now.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto…**

* * *

Sasuke and Itachi sat in silent amazement as Sakura continued to throw trees around. Eventually though she only threw one tree at a time because she wasn't able to throw farther than the farthest tree she threw.

Sakura was tired. She was running around the training field…she lost count on how many times she'd run around the stupid area (Too many if you ask her). She looked up at the sun; She could tell that it was almost noon.

_Ugh, what else is she going to have me do?_ Sakura let out an exasperated breath and picked up yet another tree. She threw it will all her might, but it still didn't cut it distance wise. She felt her heart drop when the tree landed on top of the farthest tree and roll off of it in her direction.

_Damn it all._

Tsunade looked at her apprentice and then up at the sky. It was close enough to noon.

"That's enough, Sakura. You can rest for a little bit."

Sakura didn't need to be told twice. She immediately fell to the ground and breathed heavily for a few minutes. She then rolled over and looked at the two Uchihas sitting contently (Well, Sasuke was leaning against a tree with his arms crossed over his chest). She saw that both of their eyes were slightly wider.

"Ha! I told you that you would see what I meant by hard training!"

Itachi scoffed and shrugged his shoulders. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

Sakura gaped at him in disbelief. "Then what the heck were you watching over there? The grass grow?"

Sasuke smirked at her reply. Sakura had come up with witty comebacks since he's been away. He liked this new addition to her - It was very amusing.

Itachi stood up and walked over to Sakura. She remained in her laying position when he was next to her. He sat next to her and looked at the trees she had uprooted and thrown. He had to admit that it was a very impressive display, but he wanted to play with her a bit. It was fun getting her all riled up.

"The grass _is_ more interesting," he said and gave a sly smile. He picked up a blade of grass and twirled it in his fingers.

Sakura sat up and glared at him. "Then I want to see you throw a tree -_ A Tree _- and see how far it goes!"

Itachi kept the smirk on his face as he said, "I would but anyone can throw a tree." Yeah, right. "Did you know it takes true talent to throw a single blade of grass?"

Sakura stared at him dumbly. Was he serious? "You're comparing a tree to a piece of grass?" she asked him slowly.

He nodded his head and looked at the blade of grass in his hand.

Suddenly, Sakura grabbed the blade of grass from his palm and threw it.

Itachi wanted to laugh when Sakura threw the grass and the blade went backwards.

There was silence as Sakura looked at the grass on the ground. She couldn't believe it!

Itachi grabbed another piece of grass and twirled it once more. "Like I said, true talent." He was practically laughing his head off on the inside. Sakura's cheeks were now a deep shade of pink.

"Must've been the wind," she tried to reason.

A smirk remained on Itachi's face. "Yeah, must've been."

Tsunade watched her apprentice and shook her head. The whole thing really was funny. Even she knew that Itachi had been trying to yank her chin in order to get a reaction out of her. Sakura's stubbornness was really starting to become her biggest weakness.

"Alright! Back to training!"

Sakura groaned and stood up. She walked over to where Tsunade was and stood attentively to hear the rest of her training. A blush was still present on her face, though.

Tsunade pointed at the uprooted trees. "I want you to put them back."

Sakura looked at the trees and then gave her shishou a look of confusion.

Tsunade sighed. "I don't want a bunch of holes in one of my training fields so I want yo to put the trees back where they came from," she stated calmly.

Sakura groaned and said, "Hai." It was one thing to take a tree out of the ground, but to put it back? She would have to stand it straight and pound the earth around it back in. Easier said than done.

Once Sakura found her rhythm she was good at putting full grown trees back into the ground. It was still a struggle, but she did her best. It took four hours to put all the trees back and make everything look almost as it used to.

When the last tree was done, she sat back on the ground. Her arms ached and she didn't want to move a single muscle.

This time it was Sasuke who came over by her. He smirked down at her.

She mentally groaned. _Oh great! What now? Is he going to tell me that breathing is harder than moving trees?_

"Good job."

_Wait…what?_

Sakura stared up at Sasuke in surprise. Had he just…complimented her?

Sakura pinched her arm to see if this was a dream. _Ouch._ Nope, not a dream.

She looked back at Sasuke. His arm was outstretched towards her. He raised his eyebrows, waiting for her to take his hand.

Sakura took his hand slowly and when she did a spark ran up his arm. He still didn't understand why that happened everything they touched. It felt good, but then again he wanted it to stop because he's never felt anything like this before.

He pulled her up and instantly let go of her hand. Sakura frowned at that. Was she so repulsive to him? But then why did he offer to help her up in the first place?

"Thanks," she said still a little dazed.

"Hn."

Tsunade made her way over to them. "That's enough for now, Sakura. Go get some rest, you worked hard today."

Sakura nodded and watched as Tsunade began walking towards the Hokage's Tower.

"Let's go," she said. "I think my legs aren't going to last much longer."

xxx

They were walking down the street (A bit slower than normal due to a certain exhausted pink haired medic) when Naruto ran up to them.

"Hey, guys! Wanna get some ramen with me?" Naruto didn't wait for an answer. Instead he grabbed Sakura by the arm and started to drag her in the direction of Ichiraku's Ramen stand.

Sasuke watched the girl look back at them with desperation in her eyes. He sighed and said, "Come on" to Itachi.

Itachi was confused by what happened. Why was Naruto dragging Sakura to get something as simple as ramen? He would understand if he had just asked, but no - He was _dragging_ her. He followed his brother as they walked in the wake of Naruto and a very sad looking Sakura.

They made it to the ramen stand and Naruto put Sakura on one of the stools. Sasuke sat next to Sakura making Itachi have to sit next to Naruto (Sasuke go the end stool).

Naruto happily ordered his ramen, Sakura reluctantly ordered hers, and Sasuke and Itachi both didn't order anything.

As time passed Itachi stared in horror at Naruto's rising tower of bowls. Never in his life had he seen someone devour anything the way Naruto devoured ramen. Eh was almost like a vacuum cleaner the way he emptied bowl after bowl.

Sakura and Sasuke just watched wondering when they could leave. They've both seen this before and new that it wasn't even close to being over.

Sakura then saw their chance when Naruto started on his ninth bowl. He had just put ramen into his mouth.

She said, "Well, Naruto, we need to get going so I'll see you tomorrow! Okay, bye!" She quickly got up, grabbed Itachi and booked it out of there. Sasuke quickly followed suit.

Itachi looked back at the ramen stand in disbelief. "How is that possible?" He didn't know what else to say.

Sakura let go of his upper arm and said, "If you want to keep the money in your pocket never let him leave before you do."

Sasuke could only nod his head in agreement. It was some of the best advice that he's ever heard. He knew from experience.

xxx

The Uchiha compound was deadly quiet. That was a weird word to use, but it was true. No crickets chirped and the wind didn't blow at all. Sakura felt a shiver run up her spine and goose bumps trailed her arms. It wasn't that she was cold, it was that she felt a little creeped out.

She looked around the buildings as they passed them. She had the eerie feeling that someone would be waiting around a corner and jump out at them.

It was all very unnerving.

Sasuke noticed that Sakura's shoulders had stiffened and her eyes were searching the area very carefully.

He wanted to tell her to relax, but he felt strange saying that around his brother. He figured that Sakura was thinking about the Uchiha massacre - That's what he had been thinking about. Itachi must've been thinking about it too. It was hard not to.

Sasuke stuffed his hands in his pockets and decided not to say anything. He didn't know how much of a comfort he would be anyway.

Itachi kept his gaze straight. He feared that if his eyes strayed from the path more awful memories would be flooding his mind than there already was. This night was so similar to the night that he killed his clan.

It scared Itachi.

He hated what he'd done, but he didn't regret it. He knew that if given the choice again the outcome would be the same. That's what he hated the most - How he had been backed into a wall and forced to choose between his family and the village.

He hated it.

xxx

Sakura tossed and turned in her bed again that night. _Geez, am I ever going to get a good night's sleep in this place?_

She sat up and looked out the window. The breeze was back and the trees outside swayed gently. She sat there, slightly mesmerized by the trees motions.

A sound brought her out of her stupor. It was a loud thud that sounded like it came from the room next to hers.

_Sasuke._

Sakura quickly got out of her bed and made her way to Sasuke's door. She hesitated once she was there - her hand barely touched the door knob.

_What if he doesn't want me barging into his room? Will he get mad at me?_

She heard the thudding sound once again and finally decided to open his door. _What if he's hurt?_

When Sakura opened the door she hadn't expected Sasuke to be sitting up in bed and throwing a kunai at his wall. He didn't look at her as she entered his room.

She slowly shut the door and made her way over to him.

He stopped throwing the kunai and instead just stared at it. Sakura wasn't sure what to do. He'd never really acted this way before so why now? Was the Uchiha compound messing with his mind? If it was that unhealthy for him then he should have said something to her about it. She would listen.

She would always listen.

"Sasuke? What's wrong?" She was still inching her way towards him. Even though she trusted Sasuke the kunai in his hand made her a little uneasy.

Sasuke's eyes slid over her figure and he put the kunai down on the table next to his bed. He turned his attention back to her, sighed, and ran a hand through his hair.

The two waited in the silence, almost long enough for Sakura to get used to it. She was startled when his voice cut through the air.

"I hate this place."

Sakura's eyes widened. "Why didn't you object to living here then?"

Sasuke turned his face away from her and slightly glared at the wall.

When he didn't say anything for a minute Sakura sighed and sat down on the end of his bed. "You and your stubborn Uchiha blood. It wouldn't kill you to say what's on your mind every once in a while."

Sasuke stared down at his clenched hands. He didn't know how to respond. He had been used to being quiet after all these years; It was just who he was. But something about Sakura made him want to talk more.

"I don't like this place. I want to leave it." His voice was a whisper.

Sakura smiled at Sasuke. He was slowly starting to open up to her. It was a small step, but she knew that there would be more to come. Somehow she just knew.

Her eyes grew soft as she placed her hand on top of his clenched ones. "Then we can go. I promise."

Sasuke stared into her soft, jade eyes. He knew that she was telling the truth.

She would get him out of there.

* * *

**So there was chapter 7 of HWA! I'm so sorry again for the late update, but then again I wasn't supposed to update this yet at all.**

**Until next time**

**~LazyApples**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8 of Here We Are! Lalala!**

**I want to thank all the people who are reading this fic! Let me tell you I got so many emails with fav stories, author, story alerts, reviews, and author alerts. I was totally blown away! Thank you so much! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you! =D**

**And now, on with the story!**

**I hope you enjoy reading it!**

**Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto, people! You should know who does!**

* * *

"Can you repeat that?" Tsunade leaned against her desk a little more.

"We need to move Sasuke and Itachi. Maybe into a new apartment?" Sakura put her finger to her chin in thought. She knew that it would never work if they all went to her apartment and stayed for a long time: It was just too small. It was fine the first time only because it was for one night. However, there was no way that she would be able to live that cramped for who knows how long.

Tsunade looked at her apprentice thoughtfully. "Why do they need to move all of a sudden?"

Sakura brought her hand back to her side and felt sad when she remembered last night.

"_I don't like this place. I want to leave it." His voice was a whisper. _

_Sakura smiled at Sasuke. He was slowly starting to open up to her. It was a small step, but she knew that there would be more to come._

_Her eyes grew soft as she placed her hand on top of his clenched ones. "Then we can go. I promise."_

She would not go back on that promise. Sasuke was putting his trust in her and she needed to be strong. She could not back down even if it was Tsunade.

"It's unhealthy for them to relive the worst day in both of their lives and that's what they'll be doing everyday they have to stay in the Uchiha compound."

Tsunade took this all in and nodded. It was all very clear to her now. She really should have thought about that before she hastily just put them back in their old home. She was a top class medic ninja for crying out loud!

"Come back at the end of the day with both of them. I'll have something put together."

Sakura gave her shishou a bright smile. "Thank you Tsunade-sama!" She then bounded out of the office and ran through the streets. She was going to go tell Sasuke and Itachi the good news.

Tsunade watched the girl go with a smile on her face. _That girl…_

She then dug around her desk to find a bottle of Sake. "Shizune!"

The door opened and Shizune came in carrying her ever faithful pig, Ton Ton. "What is it Milady?"

"I need you to find a two bedroom apartment for Sasuke and Itachi."

Shizune looked at her quizzically, but didn't voice her question. It was better for her to just go with it. "Yes." She turned around and walked out the door.

xxx

Sakura ran to the training grounds where she had left the two Uchihas and Naruto. She had told Naruto to keep them busy while she asked Tsunade about their living arrangements.

But this wasn't what she had in mind.

Sasuke was standing by a tree with his eyes closed and his arms crossed. Itachi and Naruto were nowhere in sight.

She walked up to him and he opened his eyes when he felt her presence.

"What's going on?" Her voice had genuine confusion. "Where's Naruto and Itachi?"

Sasuke had an annoyed look on his face when he answered. "Hiding."

It took Sakura a few seconds to understand what he had just said. "Oh! You're playing hide and seek!"

Sasuke glumly nodded. He didn't even want to play in the first place. He was only playing because both Naruto and Itachi questioned his ability to find them. Sasuke scoffed at the memory. _Yeah, right._

A grin grew on Sakura's face. "And you're it?"

"Aa."

Sakura got really excited. "I'm playing!"

"Why would you want to play _this_ game?" He already knew that she would want to play since she got there.

Sakura pouted at him. Because it's _fun_, Sasuke." She gave him a mischievous smile before she disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Sasuke let out a sighed and ran a hand through his hair. _Let's get this over with._

He shut his eyes and when they opened his Sharingan was spinning wildly. He instantly found Naruto. He hadn't decided to hide his chakra.

Sasuke smirked. _Found you._

In a flash Sasuke was behind Naruto. Naruto was so surprised that he fell out of the tree he had been in.

"Ouch! Teme, you didn't have to scare me like that!" He held his head and glared up at Sasuke.

"Dobe," Sasuke simply said and searched the rest of the area. Now this was going to be tricky. Both Itachi and Sakura had masked their chakras and were no where to be seen. The both of them were smart enough to remember that he had the Sharingan and he would most likely use it.

_Too bad they're not as dumb as Naruto. _**(A/N: I, for one, think that Naruto is very smart…at moments) **Sasuke smirked down at the blonde who had now crossed his arms and legs and puffed out his chest.

Sasuke jumped out of the tree and stood very still. He tried to concentrate and find the other two with his instincts.

"Stupid, Teme. He wanted me to fall out of the tree."

"Shut up, Dobe." Sasuke's eyes were still shut, but he knew that Naruto was scowling at him. He remained silent, however.

Sasuke felt a presence to his right. He went with it and ran in that direction.

He shouldn't have run.

A wire snapped up from the ground right before Sasuke ran over it. His eyes widened when he felt his foot get caught. He only had time to turn over so he landed on his side instead of his face. He stared blankly ahead of him, unsure of what just happened.

A fit of laughter came from behind some bushes. Sasuke's eyes narrowed in on the bush and he pushed himself up. Behind the bush was Sakura, clutching her stomach and laughing. Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes and she could barely breath.

"You…You should have…seen your…face!"

Sasuke glared down at her and started to walk away. He saw that Naruto was also hunched over in laughter. Sasuke walked over to him and pushed him over with his foot (Not kicking, but pushing). Naruto didn't even try to stop his fall: He was laughing too hard.

Sakura finally made her way out from the bushes and ran over to them. Sasuke was still glaring at Naruto and his hands were stuffed in his pockets.

"Don't be such a grump, Sasuke," Sakura said and smiled. Her eyes still had laughter in them.

He really did try and stay angry, but when he looked into her eyes a wave of calm swept over him. He just couldn't stay angry at her.

So he returned his glare to Naruto.

Itachi appeared out of nowhere and took in the scene before him. "Is it over?" Just like Sasuke, Itachi had not wanted to play hide and seek, but once Naruto started to question Sasuke's "manliness" (Naruto's words, not his) he just couldn't stop himself form joining him.

Surprisingly, it was Naruto that answered him. "Haha! Sasuke doesn't want to play anymore because he ate the dirt!"

Cue Sasuke's deathly glare.

"Shut it."

Naruto only laughed harder and Itachi had a smirk plastered on his face.

"Sakura!"

Sakura turned around at the mention of her name. Shizune was running at them and waving one of her hands in the air. Ton Ton was running after her.

"Shizune? What is it? Is something wrong?" Maybe something happened at the hospital?

Shizune shook her head. "No. I came to tell you that I found an apartment. Tsunade told me to tell you."

Sakura smiled and looked back at Sasuke. His eyes were glued to hers. _She did it._

Sakura turned her attention back towards Shizune. "So, Sasuke and Itachi can move in it now?"

Shizune nodded her head. "Yes, but you will also be moving in with them for the time. Tsunade-sama's orders." She looked down at the pink haired medic with sorry eyes. She wouldn't think that this information would go over well with Sakura.

Sakura stared at Shizune, unable to understand. "What? Why can't I go back to my own apartment?" She really couldn't say that she didn't like staying with Sasuke and Itachi (especially Sasuke). However, she sort of wanted to go home and sleep in her own bed. She missed it.

"The Uchiha trial is coming up and Tsunade-sama thinks that it will be a good decision if you stay with them."

Sakura understood now. Tsunade doesn't want them to do anything that they would later regret. Like taking out an elder? Yeah, something like that.

She nodded her head in understanding. "Right."

Shizune turned away and said, "I'll show you where it is and you can move in whenever you want."

"Come on Naruto, come with us." Sakura said as she, Sasuke, and Itachi began following Shizune, but Naruto rubbed the back of his head embarrassingly.

He gave out a nervous laugh. "Sorry, Sakura, but I have to go."

Sakura looked at his questioningly. "What?"

A blush made its way onto Naruto face and he slightly turned away from the group of people. "I'm meeting someone for lunch."

Sakura's interest was immediately peeked. She walked over to him and tried to catch his eyes, but he seemed to be looking anywhere but at her. A sudden smile spread across her face.

"You have a date!"

"Wha…that's…no!" He still wasn't making any eye contact with her.

Sakura looked at him knowingly. It was obvious that the blonde had a date. He wouldn't be getting so flustered if he was meeting with someone he regularly ate lunch with. Sakura was itching to know who it was. She had an idea as to who, though.

"Oh, okay, Naruto. Well, since you're so busy I guess we'll see you later." Sakura turned on her heel and walked over to Sasuke's side. A devious expression in her eyes.

Sasuke didn't know what to expect from that gleam in her eyes. She must be plotting something, Sasuke thought that it must've been something to do with Naruto's lunch date (It was even obvious to an Uchiha).

Sakura pulled on his arm and followed Shizune when she started to move again. She turned her head slightly to the side to see that Naruto was still standing there with a blush on his face.

"I have an idea," Sakura said and turned back towards Sasuke.

"Hn."

"We'll spy on Naruto's date."

Sasuke thought about it. He too was a little curious about the girl that Naruto was meeting. He wanted to know what kind of girl would want to go on a date with the annoying dobe. **(A/N: Yeah, what kind of girl would that be? *hint*hint*wink*wink*)**

Sasuke smirked. Sakura took this as a yes and ran up to Shizune.

"We'll need to go fast."

Shizune looked at the girl and saw that her eyes were full of determination. She decided to not ask questions and trust that Sakura knew what she was getting herself into. And if she didn't then Sakura was going to have to answer to Lady Tsunade.

That was possibly the worst consequence that Shizune could think of.

She quickly led them all to the new apartment. The jog took about five minutes, not long at all.

"Thanks, Shizune!" Sakura said and grabbed the keys that Shizune handed to her. Shizune nodded and walked away with Ton Ton.

"Okay, let's go." Sakura took off in a run with Sasuke and Itachi close by.

"What are we doing, now?" Itachi asked. Honestly, these people never took a break from the crazy stuff they did. It was amusing to watch, but at the same time Itachi had to wonder: Did it ever stop?

Nope, it did not.

Sakura suddenly stopped and hid in an alley way. She grabbed both Sasuke and Itachi by their shirts and dragged them along with her. They all poked their heads out of the side of the building and looked at the famous ramen stand that they all knew so well (Itachi not so much, but what he had seen last night he didn't really want to see more).

"What's going on?" Itachi repeated.

Sakura turned to him and whispered, "Shh! Could you be any louder? We're spying on Naruto." She turned her head around and continued to look at the shop.

They all watched as Naruto came around a corner and look around the streets. They hid their heads for a few seconds before poking them out again. Naruto had gone and sat on one of the stools. He didn't order any ramen yet.

Just then a familiar figure approached Ichiraku's ramen stand slowly and timidly. She looked at the store and quickly turned around and started to walk the other way, but then changed her mind and continued to go towards the ramen stand.

Sakura pulled herself back into the alley and started jumping around like a lunatic. Her hands were up at her face and she had one of the biggest smiles on her face.

"It's Hinata! I knew it! I knew it!" She whispered this because she didn't want either Naruto or Hinata to hear her. However, just because she whispered it doesn't mean that it lost any of its excitement.

Sasuke watched her and smirked. Once he saw that it had been the Hyuuga heiress he wanted to smack his forehead. Of course it would be her, she'd had a crush on him since they were young.

Itachi looked back and forth between the two. He smiled at the jumping Sakura and the smirking Sasuke. "I take it this is a good thing?"

Sakura stopped her jumping, but she was still wiggling around with happiness. "Yes! It is a _very_ good thing!"

She poked her head out of the alley and looked at the two in the ramen shop. She was so happy for both of them. Hinata had liked Naruto for such a long time. Hinata was probably in love with him now.

Also, Naruto deserved to have someone in his life that would love him the way that he deserved to be loved.

"A _very_ good thing."

* * *

**Okay, so that was chapter 8 of HWA! I hope you enjoyed it!**

**Next time is Naruto's date with Hinata! How many of you saw that one coming? Yeah, I know it was totally unpredictable. (Yeah, right)**

**I'm sorry, but this chapter was kind of a base, but I needed to write it. It made me smile, so I hope it did the same for you! =D**

**I won't be able to update until next week, I have to read a book and write journals and an essay on it. I decided to do it this weekend (I don't want to procrastinate on it). I also want to do it this weekend because MONDAY IS MY BIRTHDAY! I want to get the new Naruto video game for the wii and I want the whole next weekend to play it! It looks awesome! I really like Sakura's outfit in it =D**

**Anywho, I promise to definitely update after this weekend is over, or whenever I'm done with my English stuff.**

**As always: Click on the nice little review button on the bottom of your screen and leave me a nice review for my birthday! (It'll be my 18th!)**

**Until next time**

**~LazyApples**


	9. Chapter 9

**I'm so sorry! I wasn't supposed to procrastinate on my English, but I totally did anyway! I just finished it this weekend and it was due today! I've been so busy reading a ton of fan fictions! I am now such a huge DRAMIONE fan! I am head over heals in love with this pairing! XD**

**Anyway, I would like to thank the people who took the time to review the last chapter! I especially loved the long one from Tiger Priestess! Thank you soooo much! When I read your review I was a puddle of mush inside. Haha I felt so happy!**

**Also thank you to everyone who wished me a happy birthday! And did you know that you can only play as Sasuke and Naruto in the new video game? Yeah, I wasn't too happy about that, but I was really happy with it anyway!**

**Okay, enough rambling. On with the story:**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Just this plot!**

xxx

Naruto felt the butterflies flutter around his stomach. He stood in front of Ichiraku's ramen looking around for Hinata.

Yes, his date was with Hyuuga Hinata.

And he was nervous. He resisted the urge to put his hands behind his head and decided to rest them at this sides. That would look more calm and relaxed, right? _Right_?

He felt a blush spread across his face. He was totally confused on what to do. Should he wait for her outside? Should he wait to order ramen? Should he order ramen for her?

So many choices!

He found some semblance of peace in remembering the night that the had asked her out on a date

xxx

Naruto occupied the training grounds for hours now. It had been light out when he started, but now the shadows were extending their reaches across the ground. The first stars were blinking awake in the night sky.

Naruto sat on the ground in deep meditation. He hadn't moved for hours and hadn't planned on moving anytime soon.

It was a few minutes later when Naruto heard the soft thudding of foot steps coming his way. He lazily opened his eyes and smiled when he saw that it was Hinata.

"Hey, Hinata-chan! What are you doing here?" he said and stood up.

"I…I was g-going to train." A blush was present on her face. It was a good thing it was fairly dark out because she didn't want Naruto to see that she looked just like a tomato.

"Cool! Can I help?" Naruto hadn't really ever trained with Hinata before. Eh was excited to spar with her.

Hinata was slightly taken aback by his forwardness. She looked down at the ground. "S-Sure."

Naruto suddenly became very aware of Hinata's presence. He curiously stared down at the timid girl. He'd never really noticed how petite her face was; how soft the flushed skin of her cheeks looked. Before he could stop himself, Naruto had stepped closer to the shy girl. His fingers lightly brushed across her cheek and Hinata stared wide eyed at the blonde.

Coming out of his trance, Naruto yanked his hand away and put it sheepishly behind his head.

"…Sorry, Hinata. I don't know what came over me." Naruto could feel his face heating up as he continued to stare at Hinata.

Hinata could do nothing but gape at her long-time crush.

Naruto was nervous. What the heck was _that_? Why did he just…caress her face? He'd never done anything like that before! He hadn't even done anything like that to Sakura when he liked her. So, why was he doing it now to Hinata?

Maybe…maybe...

"Hey…Hinata?"

Hinata still couldn't find her voice. It took her a while to notice that he had asked her something. She numbly nodded her head, signaling that she heard him.

"Would you…would you like to meet me for lunch tomorrow?" He looked anywhere but her face. He wasn't sure what she would say and he didn't know how he would react if she declined.

Hinata's mouth hung open and she quickly looked down at her hands. They were desperately clasped together as if they could confine her shyness. It didn't seem to be working too well.

She couldn't believe it! Naruto was asking her out! Naruto was asking her out! She couldn't breath, the world was dancing around her and she had trouble focusing on anything but Naruto's cool gaze when she lifted her eyes back up and focused on his face. His eyes were what made her come back down to earth.

She shakily let out a few small breaths before she tried to speak. Nothing came out. Weird, she most certainly wanted a 'yes' to come out of her mouth. She really wanted anything positive to come out of her mouth. Too bad her vocal chords had other thoughts entirely.

Naruto searched her eyes and eagerly waited for her reply. Why wasn't she saying anything?

After a few moments of pregnant silence Naruto's shoulders slumped. "If you don't want to I understand." He then turned around and started to walk away, his hands in his pockets and his gaze locked onto the ground in front of him.

He'd been so stupid. Stupid! Of course she wouldn't tell him what he wanted to hear.

However his thoughts were halted when a small hand placed itself on his left arm. He slowly turned around and stared into the soft lavender eyes of Hinata.

She had felt awful when he began walking away. This was her one chance at a happy moment with him and she wasn't able to say anything! She just had to answer him. She _had_ to!

A small smile appeared on her face as she stared into that beautiful cerulean blue. "Y-Yes…"

Naruto stood dumbfounded. She said yes!

In an instant he pulled Hinata into a hug and spun her around. "Thank you, Hinata-chan! I'll see you tomorrow at Ichiraku's!" He looked down at her one more time before he ran all the way to his apartment with a big grin plastered on his face.

xxx

Sakura was watching impatiently as Hinata slowly made her way into the stool besides Naruto. She could tell that they were saying something, but she was too far away to hear what it was.

She started tapping her foot on the ground much to Sasuke's amusement.

"Why so antsy?"

Sakura let out a groan. "I want to hear what they're saying!" She quickly gave Sasuke a glance before moving her eyes back to the happy pair. There must be some way to hear them…

"Aha!" Sakura said and snapped her fingers. She made the proper hand signs and transformed into a nameless villager. She now had long, brown hair and deep, blue eyes. Her clothes were average, not the red that screamed out against the brown buildings.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her. "That's your big plan? Transforming?"

Sakura gave him a mock glare. "Simple, yet effective." Then, as casually as she could, she walked out of the alley and towards the ramen stand.

Sakura had entered the stand and sat at the far stool. She cut her eyes in the couple's direction and watched them carefully.

_Oh, yeah, _Sasuke thought, _not obvious at all_. He smacked his forehead. Seriously, she was such an idiot! How could anyone fall for that?

However, Naruto was oblivious to the stranger at the end of the counter. He was too focused on the girl in front of him.

Naruto opened his mouth to say something. "So-"

Just then some guy sat down in the stool next to Sakura. She couldn't believe it! He was blocking her view and now she wasn't paying attention to anything they were saying! Who was this guy anyway?

The man was young, maybe in his twenties? He had sand brown hair and green eyes. He stared down at her intently. "How's it going?"

"What are you doing?" Sakura harshly whispered at him, unable to hide her anger. Couldn't he see that he was ruining everything!

The man smirked down at her. "Just thought you looked awful lonely, what with your snooping and everything."

That smirk unnerved her. She stared at the guy with an unbelievable expression on her face. "Sasuke?" she whispered making sure that he would be the only one to hear.

The smirk grew bigger.

She smacked his arm and dragged him out of the shop. They went back to the alley where Itachi had been watching the show with amusement in his eyes. Sakura dropped the appearance and turned to glare at Sasuke.

"What did you do that for? Naruto was going to say something!" Really, what was he thinking? Didn't he know that she loved listening about other people's love lives because of her lack thereof? It was just so addicting. And now she had a huge opportunity to listen in on Naruto's first date _ever _and he had ruined her fun!

Sasuke went back to his usual spiky hair and bottomless black orbs. He raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't you think it's rude to eavesdrop like that?"

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Sasuke, are you being thoughtful towards Naruto's privacy?" A smirk of her own slid into place on her face.

Sasuke looked away from her and stared at the side of some building. "No, I am not." Even though he was he simply wouldn't admit to it. He was a guy after all. There was something or other in the unwritten book of guy code…wasn't there? And besides, Sasuke knew that he wouldn't want someone to eavesdrop on one of his dates, that is if he ever had one. But, of course he wouldn't be dumb enough to not notice a suspicious character lurking around the corner.

"It sure seems like you are." She eyed him carefully.

He sent her a small glare. "I see that you don't care for his privacy at all." If he wasn't going to get out of this then he would just have to turn the tables on her. Make her go on the defensive.

"Well…that's because I want to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid!"

Sasuke scoffed.

"Don't scoff at me! I'm being thoughtful!"

He gave her a skeptical look. "That's not how I see it."

"Then you need to open your eyes some more!"

"They're open wide enough."

"Oh, shut up, Sasuke!"

Itachi suddenly snickered at the two bickering before him.

Sasuke and Sakura both stopped arguing and turned in his direction.

"What?" Sakura asked.

Itachi shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. Just that the two of you sound like a married couple." He smiled at the reaction he got out of the two teens.

Sakura had immediately blushed and glared at nothing in particular. Her mouth set itself into a fine line. Sasuke on the other hand shoved his hands in his pockets and moved his gaze in Sakura's direction. Once she looked his way, however, Sasuke's eyes were set in a glare directed at Itachi.

"That's…ridiculous," Sakura managed to get out, a blush still adorned her features.

Itachi gave a small smile and shrugged his shoulders once again. "You asked."

"Yeah, well…let's go," she said and began walking in the direction of the Uchiha compound.

Sasuke quickly caught up with her. "Why the sudden change in attitude? I thought you wanted to watch Naruto and the Hyuuga?"

Sakura puffed up her chest. "I can see that _someone_ won't let me get close enough to hear so we should do something more productive like moving our stuff into the new apartment." So not true. Sakura just wanted to get away from the insufferable, smirking Itachi. Why did he have to say that? That they sounded like a _married couple?_

Sakura snuck a look our of the corner of her eye at Sasuke. He calmly stared ahead. His onyx eyes looked a bit thoughtful, though she couldn't guess as to why.

Sasuke stared straight ahead of himself. He felt nervous looking at Sakura and he didn't exactly know why. Was it because of what Itachi said? Had they really been acting like they were married?

He scoffed at the idea. Sakura was just a close teammate. Nothing more…right?

He slowly looked in her direction and thankfully she wasn't looking at him. He studied her. Her pink hair barely scraping her shoulders, the slight blush running across her face, those green orbs that sparkled when she smiled. It was true that Sakura was no longer the same girl that she had been when they first started out on a team together, but had she changed so much that her feelings for him were…different? Did she still love him or were they nothing more than friends to her?

And was she really just a friend to him? Over the past week he had shared things with her that he hadn't shared with anyone else. Why? What had compelled him so to tell her things? And then what about when they touched? That weird feeling he got in the pit of his stomach and the tingling sensation where they made contact wasn't something he had imagined. No one had ever made him feel that way.

So the question was still: What was Sakura to him?

He had no idea.

xxx

**How does Sasuke feel about Sakura? That's the big question isn't it? He better sort out his feelings soon or else a lot of people are gonna be angry! (Both with the real manga and this fic)**

**Okay, so please review! I very much appreciate it!**

**Until next time, **

**~LazyApples**


	10. Chapter 10

**Okay, so I'm sorry about the long wait! I'm so sorry! I sound like a broken record for apologizing all the time. So, you should all know that I'll get to updating when I get to it. I'm sure you all knew that already though.**

**And you've probably noticed that this is the longest chapter for Here We Are. I think it's longer by almost 1,000 words. I don't know about you, but I'm pretty happy about that =)**

**I'm sorry in advance if there's any mistakes becuase I didn't really go over it before I uploaded it. If you see any major ones be sure to tell me please and I will fix it!**

**Anyways on with the story!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

* * *

The three arrived at the Uchiha compound lost in thought. Their feet had memorized the path they took and they all numbly followed it. Sakura was surprised when she got to the door; it came up on them so suddenly. She quickly opened it and marched to her room, Sasuke and Itachi doing the same.

She was able to pack her things in a matter of minutes due to the fact that there wasn't much in it. All she basically had were a few sets of clothes and other random items. Living as a shinobi wasn't a materialistic lifestyle. The bare minimum was all one needed to survive and that is what she practiced. It was also easier to live that way because if there was some freak accident in her apartment then nothing of great value would be lost.

Then again, it was very sad living like that. She wanted to have memories attached to objects. She wanted to be able to look at something and be like: 'Hey, that's mine'.

The room looked depressing when she packed away her team seven photo, the only object that was precious to her that she kept. Throughout the years it had given her hope that team seven could once again go back to the way it was. In a way it had; Sasuke had come back.

Sakura sucked in a quick breath and exited the room, no longer wanting to be in such a constricting place.

Sasuke randomly grabbed some clothes and shoved them into his bag. He didn't bother looking to see what he'd grabbed because everything he owned was either blue, black, or white.

Before he made it out of his room something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and stared at his team seven picture. He walked over and picked it up. He stared into the face of his younger self. He looked at the scowl and remembered what it was like back then. Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi had made him forget about his feelings for revenge. Well, not completely forget. They were still there, hiding deep within him.

He was so angry with himself for leaving. He wasn't regretful, however, just angry. If he hadn't gone he wouldn't have been able to find his brother. If he stayed in Konoha with everyone there was no telling if he would have ever found out about Itachi being ordered to kill his clan. He would have gone on forever thinking his brother was evil personified, instead of someone torn apart from having to choose the innocent villagers over his beloved family.

Sasuke swiftly stuck the picture in his bag before he left the room. He saw that Sakura and Itachi were already by the front door waiting for him.

Sakura gave him a reassuring smile. She knew that he was happy about leaving the compound, happy to get away from the nightmarish memories that haunted him. He was going to start fresh at the new apartment.

xxx

It was nice inside the apartment. There was a kitchen to the right and a bathroom on the left. Connected to the kitchen was the living room. Down the hall Sakura found the first real problem with the place.

There were only two rooms.

Sasuke and Itachi came up behind her and noticed the same thing. Itachi quickly said, "I get one." He then walked into a room and shut the door. Alone in the room he smirked to himself. He wanted to make Sakura and Sasuke share a room. It would be very amusing if they did.

Back in the hall, Sasuke stared down at the pink haired medic. "Take the room."

Sakura gave him a slight glare. "Don't order me around like a dog." She walked over to the living room where the couch was. She sat on it stiffly and crossed her arms. "I think I'll be happy right here, so go on and take the room. You'll need to get your beauty sleep more than me anyway." She stuck her tongue out at him teasingly and dropped her bag on the floor next to her.

Sasuke sighed and walked over to the girl. He promptly picked her bag up, ignored her shouts of protest and threats, and carried it into the other bedroom. He dropped the bag on the bed and waited for Sakura to show up. Eventually she did.

"Sasuke, I don't get what you're doing. One of us has to get the bed and the other gets the couch. I so nicely offered to take the couch, that means that you could sleep on the bed."

"I'm not letting you sleep on the couch. You're sleeping here," he said with finality.

Sakura scrunched her face up in confusion. "You want the couch?" Why would anyone want the couch? Sakura was only going to take the couch out of spite. She would choose the bed in a heartbeat, but Sasuke went on and ordered her to take it.

"No."

Sakura's eyes widened when she realized what he meant by that. "Sasuke, we are not going to share a bed!"

He promptly rolled his eyes at her. "Sakura, it's not like I'm going to do anything." Sasuke then crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her.

Unsettled under his gaze, Sakura fidgeted with the hem of her shirt. She knew that he wouldn't do anything…untoward to her. It was the thought of sharing a bed with Sasuke that had her so nervous. The mere presence of him made her go on edge and she had the feeling that she wouldn't be able to get a lot of sleep with him next to her.

She bit her lip. "I know. It's just…" For the life of her she couldn't come up with a plausible argument. She let out an exasperated sigh and plopped down on the bed. She laid an arm over her eyes and said, "Fine. We can share."

"Hn."

Sakura listened as his footsteps came closer. The bed shifted under his weight. She lifted her arm slightly so she could look at him.

"What now?" she asked. It wasn't that late so going to bed wasn't an option. And Sakura did not find anything appealing in staring at the wall while the time passed. An idea suddenly hit her and a smile spread across her lips. "Want to spar?"

Sasuke gave her a quizzical look. "But, what about the pills the Hokage made me take? I can't spar you if my chakra is repressed."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Those pills only restricted your chakra for about 24 hours. They would've worn off by now. I'm surprised you forgot that little detail," she said and her eyes glinted mischievously.

Sasuke was surprised himself, although he didn't outwardly show it. A feeling of excitement bubbled in his stomach at the possibility of sparring.

Without waiting for his reply, Sakura grabbed Sasuke's wrist and pulled him out of the room. She made her way to Itachi's room and knocked loudly. "Itachi! We're going out! Come on, let's go!"

The door opened and an amused Itachi stood in it. "You could just go without me."

"What would you do by yourself here? Collect dust? At least now you can watch me kick Sasuke's butt."

Itachi stepped into the hall and followed the two teens out the door. In no time they were at the training grounds and Sasuke and Sakura were squared off against each other.

"Okay, so the rules: No weapons. I only want hand to hand to make things interesting," Sakura explained.

Itachi stood off to the side, listening intently to what she said. He smirked and wondered what the pinkette had planned for his brother. One thing was for sure: it would be entertaining.

Sasuke gave a grunt before he ran at her. He lashed out and tried to strike Sakura's stomach. Sakura quickly jumped out of the way and skidded to a stop some ways away from Sasuke. She gathered chakra in her legs and burst forth. Sasuke sidestepped her incoming kick before she could break any of his bones.

"Trying to kill me?" he asked.

"Nope. Just trying to beat you for once." She quickly turned on her heel and swung her leg out low, trying to kick Sasuke's legs out from under him.

Sasuke jumped up and disappeared in the air. Sakura looked around her but didn't see him anywhere.

Sasuke watched Sakura from a tree a little ways away from the clearing she was currently searching. He smirked at her determination in trying to beat him. He had never fought her when she was this strong before. He knew she had greatly improved from watching her train with Tsunade, but seeing the results up close was even more impressive.

He saw the frustration on her face as she looked around. She suddenly crushed her hand to the ground and the earth shattered beneath her. If he was anyone but Sasuke his jaw would've dropped open. However, he took the split second opening of her looking around the broken earth to grab her arms. He held her tightly and activated his Sharingan. It spun wildly as he stared into her eyes.

Sakura's eyes widened before her body slumped in Sasuke's arms. He caught her before she fell and smirked triumphantly down at her.

He had won.

xxx

Sakura blinked and looked around her. She was in a meadow, the small lake off to the right was peaceful. She could see a few fish swimming happily about in it. The trees were big and full, casting deep shadows around her.

Lost in the shadows in front of her was a tall figure, obscured by the darkness.

"Who's there?" she asked, immediately going on the defensive.

The figure stepped out into the light and her eyes widened in realization.

She groaned in frustration. "Sasuke, you big cheater! You cast a genjutsu!"

Sasuke shrugged. "You only said no weapons."

"I also said I wanted hand to hand combat."

I fought you hand to hand at first, then I used genjutsu. Face it, Sakura: You lost." He smirked at the last part and suddenly disappeared.

Sakura still couldn't believe her loss. "Kai."

xxx

Sakura's eyes fluttered open. Both Sasuke and Itachi were looking down at her. She slowly sat up and noticed that the sky had gotten dark.

"Why is it dark? I was only trapped fro a few minutes…" She turned her confused look from the sky to Sasuke.

"You've been trapped for a few hours now," he explained dryly.

Her eyes popped open. "Why didn't you help me then? How could it have possibly taken me that long to get out of a genjutsu?"

Sasuke smirked. "Time was distorted in the one I cast on you. I wanted to see how long it would take you to escape. Looks like someone needs to train some more," Sasuke said.

His words sung Sakura more than she thought they would. All these years she had trained in order to grow strong for both Sasuke and Naruto. And here Sasuke was saying that she needed more. She knew she wasn't perfect and that she did need more work in areas. She also knew that what Sasuke said wasn't as bad as she made it out to be, but still she wanted some acknowledgement of improvement after their spar.

"Whatever," she tried to brush the comment off," Let's go home. We need to be ready for tomorrow."

xxx

The room was small and the bed seemed to get closer and closer to Sakura. She numbly stared at it.

"Sakura, it's not going to eat you," Sasuke said with an amused tone to his voice.

She glanced at Sasuke before returning her eyes to the bed. Sasuke was standing on the other side of the room waiting for her to make the first move. His back was leaned up against the wall in a slouched, but confident manner.

"I think it might." She finally made her way over to the bed and poked one of the pillows.

Sasuke sighed and pushed of from the wall. He was tired and he wanted to sleep. Sakura wasn't making any real progress in getting to bed. The poke to the pillow was the first contact in the last ten minutes.

He pulled back the covers and climbed in the bed. He turned his back to her and settled in. A minute later the lights turned off and the bed shifted under Sakura's weight. He smirked when he felt her slowly pull the covers up to her chin.

He didn't miss the shake in her voice when she said, "Good night, Sasuke."

The smirk stayed on his face. "Aa."

xxx

Sasuke's fists clenched and unclenched. His anxiety was starting to show. He stared down at his hands and noticed a small scar just below his thumb. Running his finger over it he shut his eyes and slowly let out the breath he'd been holding.

Today was the day of the trial. Today was the day that the people responsible for his clan's massacre would get punished. The day that revenge would be dealt. There was a lonely thought in the corner of his mind that nagged at him, poking him with doubts. Maybe the elders wouldn't be punished. Maybe the people would agree that they had no other option.

It was then that Sakura stirred next to him. She rolled over on her side and opened her eyes. As soon as she saw Sasuke she gave a little scream and fell off the bed, blankets tangled around her legs. Sasuke stared at her in amusement, forgetting about his earlier anxiety.

On the floor Sakura struggled to right herself, however the blankets didn't seem to want to let her go. She muttered under her breath when Sasuke reached over and pulled the blankets off of her. She pouted up at him, looking very childish. He smirked at her.

"How'd you get down there?"

She pointed an accusing finger in his face. "You were in my bed! How was I supposed to react?" Her hair was mused and her cheeks were pink, making her look flustered.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "Are you always so forgetful in the morning? We're sharing the bed, Sakura," he explained evenly.

Sakura's finger remained in his face while realization dawned on her. Her cheeks grew to a vivid shade of red and the corners of her mouth pointed down. She grabbed the blankets out of Sasuke's hand and pulled them over her head. She curled into an embarrassed ball and just laid on the floor.

How could she forget a big detail like that? How could she possibly forget about her and Sasuke sleeping within arms reach? She blamed it on the lack of sleep during the night. True to her beliefs she was up most of the night listening to Sasuke's breathing. Her heart thumped in her ears and she stared intently at the wall. She faced away from Sasuke so she wouldn't be tempted to look at him all night. And how embarrassing would it be if he caught her in the act? No, it was better to save face than to risk it.

Proving her point she gave a big yawn. Having no sleep was weighing her eyelids down. She snuggled deeper into the cocoon around her. It was awfully warm and cozy. Surely five more minutes wouldn't be that bad.

Sasuke stared down at the bundle. Didn't she know that they had to get ready and head down to the courtroom? Sasuke was never late to anything he was supposed to be at and he would not start today because of the sleepy head.

"Sakura, you need to get up."

A grumble came from the bundle. Sasuke grabbed a pillow and threw it down on it. Sakura's head popped out and she glared at him.

"What was that for?"

"You're not getting up."

"You sure are observant this morning," she said and returned her head under the blankets.

Sasuke lost his patience. He got off the bed and pulled the bundle of blankets into his arms. Sakura squirmed in his grasp, but was unable to break free. She shot curses at him as he brought her down the hall past Itachi's room.

Itachi opened the door just before Sasuke past it. He first looked at Sasuke and then at the bundle in his arms. It was moving around and noises were coming from it. Itachi gave it an amused smirk.

"Sakura?" he asked the blankets.

Hearing his voice Sakura said, "Itachi! Put some sense into your brother and make him put me down!" Her voice was muffled, but nonetheless Itachi was able to make out her request.

He smiled at her even though she couldn't see him. "No." He then walked away and into the kitchen.

Sakura shouted at Itachi, but he ignored her with a glint in his eyes. The pink haired medic sure brought some entertainment to the apartment. There was no doubt in his mind that himself and Sasuke wouldn't be very talkative by themselves; it just wasn't in their nature anymore. He was glad that she was living with them for the moment. He did not think they would be able to stand the silence for long. And even when they were talking it would be something along the lines of the massacre. Something that neither one of them wanted to talk about.

However, they would have to suck it up for today. Itachi thought about the oncoming trial. He had no idea what to expect. Of course he wanted the elders to be found guilty. He just hoped that he wasn't the only one.

He brought his teeth together tightly. The elders were the ones that had ordered him to kill his clan. They were the reason why he had to make Sasuke's life a living hell. They were the reason why he had to run away from his beloved village and join the Akatsuki.

Itachi was a peaceful person at heart. He hated the idea of fighting and wanted to never fight again. For the past years of being in the Akatsuki he hated it. He hated the missions that he was ordered to carry out. That wasn't who he was.

Pushing those thoughts from him mind he made his way to the refrigerator. He opened it and took out a rice ball that woman, Shizune, had put in It. He chewed on it and listened to the ruckus making its way to the bathroom. He poked his head into the hall and watched Sasuke kick the door open and step inside. He heard a thud and then a loud "What the hell, Sasuke!" before the raven haired teen came back into view. He shut the bathroom door firmly and walked past him to the fridge. Just like him he grabbed a rice ball and leaned against the counter. One of his hands shoved into his pocket.

Sasuke had an almost grin on his face. He had found bringing Sakura to the bathroom so that she could take a shower absolutely priceless. Sure he knew that he would probably get slapped for dumping her in there, but it was worth it. He loved watching her get all angry over something he did. He didn't know why he liked teasing her so much. He hadn't done anything like it when they were genin…which he still was!

Sasuke halted his chewing and widened his eyes. He had forgotten all about rankings since he'd been away for so long. The other rookie nine had probably raised in the rankings since he'd been away and that irked him. He knew he was stronger than any of them, but that's not what it would say on paper.

He made a mental note to talk to Tsunade about it later. He had to focus on what lay ahead of him now. He was going to have to give his testament of what happened to a group of people he probably did not know. He didn't like the idea of sharing his horrid past with complete strangers. He did not like sharing his past period. It was awful to relive that day.

What he found more unnerving was that he would have to sit through Itachi's point of view. It would be awful having to tell about how he killed the people closest to him.

Sasuke was a victim through witnessing. Itachi was a victim through actions. He had been the one to kill their clan. He had the guilty conscious of knowing that.

xxx

**So, there's chapter 10! Finally made it to the double digits, guys!**

**As always leave a review if you please!**

**Until next time-**

**~Lazyapples**


	11. Chapter 11

**Okay, so this chapter is the trial and I got really into it. I wrote the beginning part after I finished the actual trial part of it. So, don't worry if it starts off slow because it picks up speed fast. =)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Simple as that.**

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As soon as Sakura was out of the shower she gave Sasuke a good smack across his face. A satisfying red mark appeared on his cheek and stayed there for about an hour. She savored the loud smack that rang throughout the kitchen.

All morning Sasuke rubbed his cheek and threw wary glances at Sakura, unsure if she was going to give him anymore slaps.

Itachi was watching the two with a hidden smile in his eyes. He loved watching the two react; they were nothing short of amusing to him. They seemed to have the perfect retorts for each other. Also Itachi wasn't blind to his little brother's expression when he made fun of the pinkette. A small expression of happiness came through when he looked at her.

However, at the moment happiness was lost from all three of their faces. They were walking down the streets, Sakura leading the way to the courthouse. Both Uchihas were reluctantly following her.

Itachi was nervous about the hearing. If it went wrong then these would be his last minutes of freedom. That thought alone was what had him dragging his feet a little. He did not want to spend his life behind bars. He lived his life in a cage ever since that day, so real bars did not really make a difference. It was just that he wanted the right people to be put in prison and serve their time. He wanted the elders to pay for their decisions.

Sasuke walked somberly with his hands in his pockets. He had no idea what to expect during the trial. He did not even know who they were going against, all he knew was that they were the elders. He had never seen them before in his life. He wanted to go and get this over with. He did not want to relive his memories for more time than he had to.

From where they were in the streets they could see a grouping of people gathered up ahead. Sakura knew the spot to be the courthouse and immediately grew nervous. She knew that people would want to see that trial, but she didn't expect this many people to want into the courtroom. She was also afraid of what side they were on. Things would get ugly if they were all against the two Uchihas.

A minute later the crowd was parted when Tsunade came out of the doors and looked around. She caught sight of the three and walked over to them.

"It's almost time to start. You two should come in now," she said to Sasuke and Itachi. She then turned to Sakura. "You need to stay here. You won't be allowed in. This is to be a closed trial."

Sakura frowned at that information. "I think I deserve to be there."

Tsunade sighed. "It will be looked down upon."

Sakura turned towards Itachi, silently asking for permission. He nodded. "Let her in." He couldn't explain the feeling he had. He knew it would be a good idea for her to be there. He knew it.

Tsunade pinched the brim of her nose. "Okay, I'll have to deal with the complications later. Now let's go."

She escorted the three to the front of the doors. Along the way there were shouts from various crowd members. Sakura wasn't able to distinguish what the words were from anyone. She was glad about that because most of the things did not sound good at all.

The room was dim and didn't have many people in it. Sasuke was relieved to see that a huge crowd had not accumulated inside like it had outside. However his relief soon vanished, replaced by anxiety. There was a group of Jounin, some he recognized and some he didn't, bordering the front of the room. Their expressions were all grim, but Sasuke could see anticipation in some of their eyes.

Tsunade took a seat in the middle of the shinobi, her hands clasped in front of her. Her sharp eyes never left the spot where the elders sat.

Itachi's eyes immediately landed on the group of elders when they entered the courtroom. Even though all three of their backs were turned Itachi knew what their expressions were: Emotionless, just like the day they ordered him to kill his entire clan.

Subconsciously, Itachi clenched his teeth. He controlled the glare he wanted to shoot at them and followed Sakura as she led both of them down to the front of the room.

Sakura stopped at the three chairs and sat down in the one farther from the aisle. Sasuke sat next to her and Itachi next to him.

An awkward silence filled the room while everyone sized everyone up.

Sasuke's hand gripped his knee tight enough to cause his knuckles to turn white. Sakura's attention had mainly been on Sasuke so she saw this. She moved her hand over his and gently pulled it off of his knee. Sasuke's eyes remained focused on the wall, not even moving in her direction.

She brushed her fingers over his in an attempt to banish some of his rage.

His grip loosened and the whiteness faded. Sakura looked up at his face. He composed himself well, the only indication of his emotional state was the slight slit he gave his eyes.

Sakura felt herself frown. She did not know how she felt about his actions at that moment. There was a feeling of pride that ran through her, pride for Sasuke not giving the elders the satisfaction of seeing his inner turmoil. But then there was always an overwhelming sensation of pity and sadness in her stomach when she was reminded of the trauma he has been through. She wanted to wrap her arms around him like a blanket and cover his wounds.

A self-conscious feeling came to her when Sakura thought of that. She abruptly pulled her hand from him, causing Sasuke to give her a questioning look out of the corner of his eye. She ignored it and looked at Tsunade who had cleared her throat, indicating it was time to start.

"The hearing will now begin," her voice rang out loud and clear. "Uchiha Itachi, Homura, Koharu, and Danzou, you are here due to the fact that evidence was brought forward which states Uchiha Itachi was ordered to kill off the Uchiha clan. If this is true that would mean the reinstatement of Uchiha Itachi as a Konoha shinobi. He has wrongfully been labeled a traitor." Tsunade's eyes cast a glance at the said Uchiha and then settled back on the elders. "Do you have anything to say?"

Danzou slowly rose from his chair. "Where is this proclaimed evidence? For all we know this could be a farce. Perhaps Itachi planted the so-called evidence. He is certainly capable of planting false information to secure a position among the shinobi ranks if he has the capability of slaughtering his fellow clansmen."

Sasuke let out a low growl that went unnoticed to everyone except Sakura and Itachi. Itachi knew what Danzou was like: Smarmy and vile. He would do everything he could to ensure his own survival. He cared little for those he stepped on in order to gain more power.

Sasuke on the other hand had absolutely no idea what Danzou was like. He knew he was awful for ordering Itachi to kill his whole clan, but that was about it. He did not like that Danzou was slithering around, trying to slide his way out of admitting the mission he gave Itachi.

Tsunade, unhindered by Danzou's declaration, said, "The evidence was a scroll that explained the official mission." She held up a scroll and placed it down in front of her.

Itachi felt his body go rigid. There it was: The scroll he had unraveled all those years ago. The scroll that had altered his and Sasuke's lives forever. The scroll that had ripped his heart to shreds.

Danzou stayed standing. "Whether on a scroll or a worthless scrap of paper, the Uchiha clan has the ability to copy the handwriting of anyone they want. It is plausible that Itachi forged the scroll in the hopes of taking us down. He is still a member of Akatsuki, who have been after the Jinchuuriki. There is the possibility that he was sent on a mission to retrieve the Kyuubi. And we sit here in this hearing all the while he's been fooling everyone."

"That's ridiculous!"

All eyes in the room were on Sakura who had gotten out of her chair in pure rage. Her face was red with anger and her hands were clenched at her sides. Her jade orbs were hard as they glared at Danzou. However she soon realized what she had done and her shoulders went limp.

She quickly plopped back in her seat and shrunk into herself. She was utterly embarrassed. What was she thinking? How could she just interject like that? This hearing had absolutely nothing to do with her. She was actually lucky that she was in the room at all, thanks to Tsunade and Itachi.

"I'm sorry," she said, her eyes downcast. She was afraid to meet her shishou's eyes.

"Next time think before opening your biased mouth, stupid girl," Danzou replied.

More embarrassment flooded through her while Danzou's words only fueled Sasuke's anger even more. He opened his mouth to tell him off, but Itachi beat him to it when he said:

"If you could be so kind as to refrain from using that condescending tone of yours. Remember that you are the guilty one in this and you are going against _me_. Take your anger out on me if you find that you are unable to properly filter yourself."

Both Sasuke and Sakura were speechless. Blankness scrolled across Sakura's mind while Sasuke was able to at least put a coherent thought together. He hadn't expected Itachi to say much at this hearing, save for his case on the massacre. But here he was sticking up for Sakura.

Danzou glared at the calm Itachi, no longer able to hide his anger behind an emotionless mask.

"Settle down, Danzou," Tsunade said, seeing that Danzou was ready to say a retort of his own.

Danzou gave a sneer and sat back down.

Itachi's hands were set calmly on the tops of his legs. He wanted to remain calm throughout the whole trial, but once he heard Danzou insult Sakura he just had to say something.

She had been nothing but nice to them ever since they were brought back to the village. Albeit she had a connection with Sasuke to begin with, but Itachi knew that she would be nice to them without that. She had a warm and welcoming heart.

Once Sakura got over the shock of it all she felt giddy and happy. Itachi had stood up for her and she did not expect that in the least.

Beside Danzou, Homura spoke up wanting to get back on task. "Because of the Sharingan the Uchiha clan possesses the scroll is no longer valid evidence. What other evidence is there then?"

That was when Itachi started to get nervous. He knew that there wasn't going to be anymore evidence than the scroll in front of Tsunade. The elders had been so cautious with his assignment, they would have made sure to cover it up as extensively as possible. It was amazing that the scroll was found in the first place; it had been the only mistake they made.

Now, since the scroll was invalid, it would be Itachi's word against the elder's. The panel of shinobi were more than likely to side with the elders because who was going to trust an ex-criminal?

Tsunade bit her bottom lip. She wasn't expecting everything to blow up in her face like that. "Let's hear Itachi's side of the story," she said. She thought that hopefully since Itachi was going first his story was the one the panel would side with better. It was a stab in the dark.

Wordlessly Itachi rose and continued to face forward, his hands falling from his lap to his sides.

Sakura thought he looked very professional, but there was also a friendly air about him. She could tell that he wanted to come off to the shinobi as non-threatening as he could. It was smart because at that point they needed all the edge they could get.

"It was about a week before the incident - that's when I was given the mission," Itachi said slowly. He wanted to engrave his words into everyone's brains. He wanted them to see a glimpse of how he felt back then. "I was stunned."

The pause he took after that was not intentional. He found himself taking in a sharp breath at the memory. "Danzou said nothing while I read it over. Once I finished my hands trembled and the words in front of me were suddenly smudged together, incomprehensible."

As Sasuke watched his brother he expected some sort of sign of pain. Maybe clenched fists or a scratchy throat, but nothing showed. The only way to tell that he was in any way effected by this was by the pause he had given earlier.

Itachi pushed on with his story. "Danzou wanted me to eliminate the Uchiha because he knew I would have no choice in the matter. I would have to do the unspeakable and kill the people I grew up with, the people who I admired, the people who raised me. There was no way I would be able to let someone else do that. Danzou knew that that was how I would feel." He paused to look at Danzou who passively stared back. Itachi wanted Danzou to show some sign of outrage at his story so that it would be proven the truth. He just needed to find the right key for the lock.

One of the shinobi sitting on the left side of Tsunade spoke a question. "You make it sound like you had the choice to pass the mission on to someone else. If that's so, then you willingly killed your clan?" His voice held skepticism and his eyebrows were raised.

"Yes, I was given the option, but in reality I was forced. What person would sit back and watch while a stranger killed those close to him? There's more love in doing things yourself than have someone else do them," he reasoned.

"So that's why you did it? You killed your family out of love?" the man on the panel asked.

Itachi's voice never wavered as he said, "Yes."

A pregnant pause followed that. In Sakura's mind what Itachi had said made sense. What sort of person paved the way to his clan's death? There was more love and sympathy in doing it himself.

Sasuke's stomach was doing flips. That whole week before the massacre he had noticed that something was up with his brother. He had been distancing himself more and more. Sasuke had pushed the thought away, deciding to ignore his actions. Would he have known what was going on if he asked Itachi about it? Would he notice the signs that were probably showing?

Kami, what kind of brother had he been? Itachi had been suffering so greatly and all he had felt was annoyed with him for not teaching him more jutsu. Now that he was grown he understood how emotions weighed on someone. Itachi was plunged through the ground with the burden shoved on his shoulders.

Tsunade was watching Danzou like a hawk, waiting for his calm demeanor to drop and prove Itachi's story correct. She just needed one reaction.

Itachi looked down at his hands, palms faced up. His finger twitched. "Then I did it. Their screams haunt me day after day. Their blood is forever stamped on my memory. But, nothing compares to the expressions on their faces when they saw their…murderer," he choked out. His outer walls crumbled away, his shoulders slumped in defeat. "I can not forgive myself. I never will."

The sight broke Sakura's heart. The motherly instinct in her wanted to soothe him, make all of his troubles vanish. There was something in both Sasuke and Itachi that reminded Sakura of a broken child. She wanted to fix all of their problems, but looking at them now she knew she would never be able to fully erase their horrid feelings. She felt completely helpless.

Danzou looked from Itachi to Tsunade. "That was a lovely act, but it has finally ended and the curtain has closed on the lie. There is no proof that his little tale is even the slightest bit true. Uchiha Itachi is and always was a traitor to Konoha. He has no right to a happy life here."

Sakura was once again outraged by Danzou's words. Maybe she couldn't eradicate Sasuke's and Itachi's pasts, but she would do everything in her power to ensure them a bright future. She would not let Danzou, or anyone for that matter, trample on the small glimmer of hope the two Uchihas had.

She rose confidently, this time making sure to keep an oncoming outburst contained. "Tsunade-sama," she spoke to her shishou, "when exactly was the scroll found?"

Tsunade's eyes sparked, catching on to what her student was trying to do. "A day before I sent team Kakashi on the mission to bring Sasuke and Itachi back."

Sakura nodded knowingly. "Exactly." She then turned towards Danzou, confidence in her every move. "Both Sasuke and Itachi had been away from the village for years. There was no way that scroll was planted by either of them."

Itachi wanted to hug Sakura for her brilliant mind (A weird thought for an Uchiha). She had just proven his innocence for him. He was so thankful that she was there.

Tsunade's voice echoed with authority, "Which means that Uchiha Itachi is innocent. Danzou, Homura, and Koharu, you are to be imprisoned immediately." A smile was set on her lips.

Sakura looked happily down at Sasuke and then Itachi. She was beaming.

"Stupid girl!" Danzou's voice sounded out and before anyone could do anything Danzou was across the aisle, a hand clasped around Sakura's neck. They both crashed to the floor, chairs clattering as they were forced out of the way.

Sakura smacked her head on the floor and her vision blurred a little. There was a burning sensation at her throat. She couldn't get a full grasp on what was happening.

As soon as it registered in his mind that Sakura was on the ground with Danzou squeezing the life out of her, Itachi moved. In a flash he tackled Danzou to the ground and held him while the other shinobi came and helped him.

Sasuke rushed to Sakura and pulled her into his arms. He put a hand to her cheek and forced her to look at him. "Sakura? Sakura, are you alright?" he asked hurriedly.

She numbly nodded and put a hand to the back of her head. "I'm okay. My head is throbbing, though."

Sasuke's grip tightened around her. He didn't want to let her go when Danzou was still in the room. It didn't matter how many shinobi were restraining him, Sasuke was not dropping his guard. He could not let anything bad happen to Sakura. She was the one who had given him hope for a future.

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**So that was chapter 11 of HWA! I really hope you enjoyed it! I sure enjoyed writing it! So, please leave a friendly review for me!**

**For those of you that didn't know the two other elders' names besides Danzou, Koharu and Homura are their actual names. I had to look them up to make sure what they were.**

**~Lazyapples**


	12. Chapter 12

**…So, as you can see I am very much still alive. I have not fallen off the face of the earth, I've just been busy with all these extra things like school, sports, work, and bf 3 haha, so I've expanded my horizon in experiences =) My life has never been happier!**

**Without further ado, I present to you Chapter 12 of Here We Are! This is kind of a filler chapter, but it's a good start for me to get back into the swing of things. I think you'll all enjoy chapter 13, I know I'll have a really fun time writing it=D**

**Disclaimer: Me no own…sad me know ='(**

**XxX**

The shinobi holding Danzou down brought him into a sitting position, never loosening their grips.

Danzou stared angrily at Sakura. He couldn't believe that some little girl had foiled his plans! He'd been so angry he found himself attacking her in his rage.

Sakura shrunk back from his heavy glare a little. Sasuke's arms were still around her protectively.

"That girl shouldn't even be here!" Danzou spat out as the shinobi stood him up.

"Danzou," Tsunade said calmly. "She wasn't the reason why you were found guilty. You were," she pointed at him as she walked over to Sakura.

Danzou gave her a questioning look. What was she talking about?

"No one would be able to prove when the scroll was found or made for that matter. The real evidence was when you reacted to it. You were desperate to silence Sakura because of what she said. Therein lies the proof."

Danzou was beside himself with anger. He had let someone get the better of him. He did not like being controlled like that.

"Take them away," Tsunade waved her hand dismissively.

The shinobi started walking away, but not before Danzou had the last word.

"Don't forget about him," he said and pointed his chin in Sasuke's direction. "He's a traitor all on his own. He needs to be dealt with." And with that Danzou was shut out of the room by the snap of a door. The room was deadly quiet as everyone soaked up his words.

He was right.

Eyes settled on Sasuke's figure. He slowly retracted his arms from around Sakura and felt his body go numb.

Sakura instantly felt alone when his arms unwrapped from around her frame. She cautiously stared around the room at each individual face, each one staring at the space a few feet about her own head. However, there was one face that really seemed to catch her attention and that was Itachi's.

Itachi's face was pain stricken, his eyes held an emotion that Sakura was not familiar with. She found herself trapped in his captivating gaze, even if it wasn't on her. She could practically feel the fear that radiated off of him. He didn't have this kind of fear going into his own trial, so it was such an amazing force that it almost took her breath away.

Itachi's fear was out of the love he had for his baby brother. For Sasuke.

Finally Sakura swiveled her head so that Sasuke was in her view. He was just standing there, passively, with an unreadable expression on his face. It was the kind of face that acted as a shield against the outside world. The kind of face that didn't wasn't others to know what was really going on in the background.

Sakura slowly got up, faced Sasuke straight on, and held out her hand.

Sasuke stared down at her outstretched hand, silently tracing her fingertips with his mind, taking in the way the bumps and grooves collided with one another. He thought it to be funny that when he was faced with the possibility of death that he could only take in Sakura's tiny hand and misleadingly delicate fingers. What was wrong with him?

When he hadn't grasped her hand in his, Sakura took action. She gripped his wrist tightly and turned to the others in the room.

"Sasuke…Sasuke…he…" she trailed off. She had such high hopes that something, anything, would come out of her mouth. Something that would make everything all right. Something that would save Sasuke from a traitor's fate.

When her words failed her her heart dropped. A feeling of utter disappointment flooded her body, making her believe that she was still that helpless 12 year old chasing after Sasuke and Naruto.

A bead of sweat had just travelled down the side of her face when Itachi spoke up.

"Take me."

When he had let those words come out, Itachi knew that it was only the right thing to do. He had been the one responsible for everything bad that happened to Sasuke. There was no better punishment than to be convicted and treated like a traitor because that is exactly what he was. He had betrayed Sasuke, a traitor to his brother.

Tsunade clucked her tongue. She didn't like anything that was going on at that moment. She thought she had everything under control, but then Danzou had to open up his big, stupid mouth.

"Just stop," she barked, cutting the tension in the room like a knife to butter. Her words barely registering in Sasuke's mind, however, because his attention was on Itachi.

What was his brother thinking? How could he just throw his life away like that for a second time? How could he be shunned like a traitor when he really wasn't one and then try and take his place in an execution?

It wasn't fair. Sasuke had just gotten his older brother back, the brother that he loved and missed. He didn't want that to be ripped away from him again.

Sasuke was about to say something when Tsunade's voice finally registered in his mind.

"-madness, pure madness."

A shinobi standing near Tsunade decided to pipe up with, "What's Uchiha Sasuke's charges?"

Everyone's eyes riveted to the shinobi. Some in curiosity and some in horror.

Tsunade was fuming. "You think after everything that the Uchiha's have been put through by the fault of the Village that I will let you harm a hair on either of their heads?" She pointed in turn to Sasuke and Itachi. "Nothing is going to happen to them. Understood?"

Sakura looked at Tsunade with adoration. She had always admired the way that Tsunade could get things done, how she could just demand to be respected.

Kakashi smiled behind his mask. He stepped forward, ready to speak his part. "Ready to vote then?" he asked around the room, continuing to smile at everyone he looked at. Sakura could tell that by the way his visible eye crinkled.

Tsunade nodded. "Those in favor of convicting Uchiha Sasuke a traitor of Konoha, sentencing him to death?"

The one shinobi that spoke up before raised his hand. He looked around submissively, waiting for any other hand to join his lone one in the air. After seeing his defeat unfurl before him, his hand dropped back to his side.

"With that nonsense out of the way," Tsunade said and waved her hand in the air. "Those in favor of releasing Uchiha Sasuke of all charges?"

Everyone on the panel raised their hand.

Sakura was overjoyed, but when she turned her attention back to Sasuke her smile faltered a little. He was still just standing there with a blank expression on his face, as if he hadn't heard the news at all.

"Sasuke?" she asked and shook his arm to get his attention.

Sasuke just couldn't believe it. In his wildest thoughts he had never imagined that he would get to come home with his brother. He never thought that he would get to live his life as a normal shinobi. He never thought that he would ever be as happy as he was at that moment.

So, he smiled.

Sakura stopped shaking his arm when she saw his mouth turn upward. His eyes sparkled with pure joy and for the first time in a very, very long time the weight on Sasuke's shoulders lifted. He felt free.

Itachi watched his brother, watched as the purest of emotions washed over his features. To Itachi it was the best thing that he had ever even seen in his life. For all of the times that he had had to make Sasuke's life completely miserable it felt so amazing that he was able to see Sasuke happy once again. He couldn't even remember the last time that Sasuke was truly happy.

Sakura looked back and forth between the two brothers. It was weird for her to see Sasuke be so open with his emotions. It was such a change that Sakura could just beam everywhere she looked. She was just so happy because now team seven was finally back together again. Nothing was going to get in their way. Her family was whole once more. She was just so, so happy.

**XxX**

She took one look around her little makeshift room and let out a sigh. Everything she needed was packed and ready to be moved back to its original home. Even though Sakura didn't have any attachments to anything in the room, she was sad to leave the other occupants of the apartment. With just the short amount of time she had spent with the two Uchiha brothers she felt like she belonged.

A knock on the door brought her from her reverie. She looked to see Itachi standing in the doorframe, looking expectedly at her, waiting for permission to enter. Sakura couldn't help but let a small laugh bubble out of her throat and onto her lips. Looking at Itachi, she was reminded of a kitten waiting to be let in through a glass door.

"You can come in," she allowed with a smile.

He took a tentative first step into the room and stood there a little awkwardly with his arms straight at his sides. Sakura just couldn't help but keep comparing him to a cute kitten…which was a little weird and off-putting because Itachi was one of the strongest shinobis that she's ever known. The killer kitten?

"So, you're all ready to go?" he asked, eyeing the box laying on the neatly made bed.

"Yeah," she said and picked up her stuff. She waited until it was all in a secure spot before she smiled at him again. "You know, I'm going to miss you."

He gave her a confused look and cocked his head to the side a bit. "Are you moving out of the Village?"

"What?" she asked, now her turn for the confusion. Then she laughed when she understood. "Well, I guess I'll still see you around. Just not as much."

"Oh."

The silence dragged on, but the funny thing was that Sakura didn't feel the least bit uncomfortable. She stood there as she watched Itachi study her and found him absolutely fascinating. She wondered what it would be like to see things from his perspective. How different would she view life if she went through what he had? It was simply too much to imagine.

Before she felt like she wanted to cry, Sakura made a move to leave. Itachi saw and moved out of her way to let her pass. The two made their way to the front door, but all the while on the walk Sakura had kept her eyes open for any signs of Sasuke. When she got to the door without seeing any signs of him she decided to ask Itachi, "Do you know where Sasuke is?"

"He wanted to go talk to Tsunade, so he left a little while ago."

"Oh," it was her turn to say. It wasn't a secret that Sakura was disappointed that he had already left before she did. Even though she had reminded Itachi earlier that she would see him around the Village, she would still miss being so close to Sasuke. She just wanted to say a goodbye, to put some type of a closing to this little chapter of her life.

"So," she pushed on despite her lack of closure. "I'll see you around." A smile appeared on her face and Itachi found it to be contagious…but, all he did was give her a small smirk. Sakura smiled ever brighter. She guessed that Itachi didn't do smiles.

_Yet_, she thought before slipping through the door and finally heading home.

**XxX**

"You wanted to see me this soon?" Tsunade asked in disbelief. "Wow, that's some determination. Kind of reminds me of Naruto," she said with a smirk.

Sasuke shuddered at the comparison. "We're not alike."

"Are you sure? You look very similar now that I get a really good look at you." Tsunade couldn't help but poke at the young Uchiha.

Sasuke's eye twitched as an image of himself looking more like Naruto appeared in his mind.

Tsunade laughed loudly, causing Sasuke to look at her in confusion. Tsunade just laughed more.

"Think you'll get a sense of humor soon, Uchiha?" she asked with a smile.

Sasuke forgot how often people smiled around Konoha, so he had to get used to it soon. It still was kind of unnerving to him because he hadn't been around friendly people in so long. His life has been so full of drama and angst.

"A mission right? That's what you wanted?"

"Yes," he said without hesitation.

To be honest, Tsunade had just gotten into her office just as Sasuke had knocked on the door. She hastily looked down at her jumbled desk, searching for the D rank mission list. Sasuke had to rebuild his reputation from the bottom up and what better way than to have him perform humbling tasks around the village…but, where the hell was that thing when she needed it?

Then she had a brilliant idea. She found her list of errands that needed to be completed by the end of the day. _And why not add a fun twist to this?_ she thought.

"I need you to take this," she handed him the paper, "and go find Sakura. I'm tasking the two of you with finishing that list by the end of the day."

Sasuke looked down at the list and raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" he asked and felt ridiculous that he actually had to do this stuff.

"Are you questioning me?"

"…No."

"Good, then get going," she ordered and with a poof Sasuke disappeared from sight.

Tsunade stared out the window. "Have fun, you two."

**XxX**

When Sakura got inside her apartment it immediately felt empty. She went to her room and put all of her things away, hoping that the task would be able to put away that empty feeling, but it didn't.

She sighed and decided to brush up on some more Medical Jutsus. She grabbed a book at random from her book shelf and plopped herself down on her living room couch. Once she had just started to get into the material there was a knock on her door.

She hopped up to answer the door to find Sasuke standing before her. She was shocked at first, but then she was happy. Seeing Sasuke always made her insides feel warmer, as if a small light engulfed her being. The feeling was almost addictive; she wanted to keep on feeling that for a long time.

"Sasuke," she breathed out. "What are you doing here?"

In answer he held up a small piece of paper with some chicken scratch on it. "Tsunade wants us to work together on this."

"So, a mission?" she asked and took the paper from him. Smoothing over the creases she could tell that it was in fact Tsunade's handwriting…her handwriting for a stupid list of chores.

"This isn't a mission…" she feebly pointed out.

"You think I don't know that?"

"Well, I was just saying!"

"Are you going to do it with me or not?" he demanded.

Sakura was hung up on his question. It got her a little frazzled and she couldn't form any responses in her head.

"Uhm…yes?"

"Then let's go," Sasuke said and turned around right away, expecting her to follow closely behind. He only stopped when he heard the front door close and waited for her to catch up to him.

Even though she was still a little bit flustered, Sakura asked in a confident voice, "So, what's first?"

**XxX**

**Okie Dokie, everyone! That's the end of Chapter 12 of Here We Are, and again sorry for the long delay…I got distracted with stuffs like college, track in college (Which is a nine month season…very looooooooooooooong), and I gots me a boyfriend =D I am happy to say that we are very much in love 3 Actually today is our seven month =) …It actually seems like we've been together for a lot longer haha. So, I've been busy with having some amazing life experiences =D I'm hoping to make up a writing schedule for the summer so that I do not have a chance to procrastinate…well, that is the hope haha**

**Anyway, until next time people!**

**~LazyApples**


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